This is an interview with Stella Lugalambi from Hamwe East Africa Ltd.

Can you tell us a bit about Hamwe and what you do?

Hamwe East Africa Ltd is a mobile value added services provider and aggregator with SMS and USSD gateway connections to mobile network operators. We are is a registered company in Rwanda and Uganda and we offer short code aggregation services, content development and management, and API development.

Which mAgri services is Hamwe involved in and who are the other partners?

The Hamwe mAgri services are:

• SMS Information (markets, distribution locations and contacts prices, agro weather forecasts) in partnership with AgriNet, Ficaseeds, Uganda National Meteorological Authority
• USSD M-farmer: in partnership with Uganda Telecom (UTL)
• SMS Farmer chat room: technical partners are Airtel, UTL, MTN, Orange Uganda and Raftsoft
• SMS M-learning: in partnership with Monitor Publications, NTVU final stages of partnership with Mukwano Feeds, UGACOF, and Ministry of Agriculture and its directorates.
• Mobile payment solutions: in partnership with Yo’ Uganda

Can you briefly describe each service?

SMS M-learning and SMS Information service are interactive services where mobile subscribers can request tips or ask questions about good farming methods for particular crops and animals through SMS.

Farmers can access the service via SMS sent to short code 6969 on all 4 major MNOs (MTN, UTL, Orange, and Airtel) in Uganda.

Customers can send an SMS in the format SUB + Keyword (e.g. SUB land and coffee) to 6969 to subscribe and receive updates on their preferred crop or livestock.

Via USSD, customers browse the menu and select the category of farming and items they are interested in. The tree guides the customer accordingly until they find what they are interested in. For example, egg production, roses in horticulture, weather forecasts etc. The screen shots below show the USSD customer journey for registration:

The image below is a screen shot of the Hamwe web interface showing actual system responses (the phone contacts and question are examples).

In your experience, why are MNOs interested in Agri VAS? What are the main incentives?

The main motivations for MNO interest in Agri VAS is brand loyalty, CSR and expansion of their portfolio. The target market of rural people most probably do not have the money to pay for the services and as such, there may not be much for MNOs in terms of revenue, but they gain in terms of social investment.

As a VAS provider, what are the biggest challenges you have faced while setting up your mAgri services?

• Selling the idea: Our biggest challenge at Hamwe has been trying to explain what we do to would-be partners such as MNOs and for them to understand the benefits to their business. It has been a challenge persuading potential partners that SMS services would work.
• Set up Costs: Getting content knowledge partnerships/ content providers on board without upfront payment. For example agriculture professionals with expertise in crop diseases or advice on better yield are not willing to provide this information without a fee.
• Lack of investment: Even with numerous banks and financial institutions saying they support ICT in agriculture projects; no bank is willing to finance a start-up like Hamwe.
• Lack of resource centers: there is a need for an agriculture information centre that would guide us on where to get information on different agriculture topics

Where do you see the mAgri industry and businesses like yours in 5 years’ time?

In 5 years’ time, the mAgri industry and particularly companies like HAMWE will feature combined platforms of both information and transactions i.e. mobile payments and remittances, micro-lending, auctions & trading etc, enabling us to create linkages for agriculture value chains and related players.

Also, we will see government departments and private organizations freely contributing knowledge and resources in order to achieve the full potential of platforms such as Hamwe’s.