Enterprise Projects Ventures is an agricultural technology company which manufactures InspiraFarms. The company was established in 2012 in Guatemala and set up offices in Kenya in 2014 to service the East African region. The initial engagement was focused on the small holder dairy industry specifically relating to the creation and development of a farmer cooperative, supporting them to access the technology through a loan with root capital. It was following this development that InspiraFarms developed and is now deploying its own interest free loans to support access to the technology.
The learnings from the 5 current installations were all applied to a recently completed R&D process which has resulted in an upgraded structural and technological offering with significantly improved energy efficiency, modularity & service offering.
The impact of the technology has been a significant reduction of waste in dairy and horticultural processing, with more than 20% value added above raw product price and time saved for smallholder farmers. The technology also provides an opportunity to increase farmers’ incomes and generate employment.
The 2-year, interest-free payment terms allow the customer to pay a small down payment and access a facility, then paying the remainder at 6 month intervals aligned with rainy seasons and harvest cycles. This is done only with approval from the credit committee. The company also provides technical support to its customers through design and maintenance of their facilities and ongoing access to their community of industry players and support partners.
The cold storage and dairy chilling machines reduce produce losses by 20-30%. Post-harvest handing and processing facilities allow value addition to a wide range of food products. InspiraFarms™ offers 2-year payment terms at 0% interest to its customers and all technology is CE certified and HACCP-ready. All InspiraFarms™ products are off-grid capable and can be powered by renewable energy.
InspiraFarms Operations Manager East Africa Luke Davey notes that they would like to benefit from a more tailored approach in networking with other KCIC clients in related industries to develop new components of the InspiraFarms community. They also expressed their enthusiasm on the new direction that the organization is taking and are hopeful for a more fruitful engagement as the targeted assistance will prove to be more beneficial.