Overview: Today, we’re going to explore AFEX, the African commodities exchange. We’ll discuss the story across the following areas:

African Agriculture context
AFEX's launch & early history
Product & monetization strategy
Competitive positioning & potential exit options
Overall outlook.

This episode was recorded on Dec 24, 2023

Companies discussed: AFEX, EAX (East African Commodity Exchange), Tony Elumelu Foundation, Heirs Holdings, Apollo Agriculture, NCX, Cargill, Louis Dreyfuss, 50 Ventures & Berggruen Charitable Trust

Business concepts discussed: Agriculture technology (AgTech, AgriTech or AgroTech), Agribusiness marketplaces, farming financing, Farmer market access opportunities, Agriculture insurance strategy, Commodity trading & Internal Entrepreneurship (Incubated company strategy).

Conversation highlights:

(01:10) - What Afex is and why we’re talking about it
(08:36) - Context of agriculture in Africa
(21:49) - AFEX Founding story
(33:28) - Fundraising
(39:56) - Growth, geographical expansion and partnerships
(49:42) - Product strategy, monetization and growth
(59:14) - Cost structure, revenue and margins
(1:10:00) - Business and user metrics
(1:13:14) - Competition and options for exit
(1:21:02) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:34:25) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:47:45) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com. Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com
Checkout my FIREDOM book = FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) + Freedom = personal finance and financial independence book. Website, Read: Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)
Recommendation: I went back and re-read some of my classic books: How I found freedom in an Unfree world (Harry Browne), Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff (Richard Carlson) & A Guide to the Good Life - The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (William B. Irvine)
Small win: Hiking with new friends in St Thomas. Cool

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: FiveBooks.Com - FiveBooks.com shares lists of the best five books on many topics, chosen by experts in that area
Recommendation: Jeff Bezos on Lex Fridman Podcast. A rare Jeff Bezos long form interview.
Small win: Running while listening to Big 7 - Burna Boy
Fact check: Tony Elumelu narrates How He Went from Second Class Lower Degree to Nigeria's Billionaire
Other content: FT ranking: Africa's Fastest Growing Companies 2023 & AFEX Nigeria loses maize worth N85m to 'police raid'

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com

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#73: AFEX (Africa Exchange) - How the commodities exchange is facilitating commodity trade by offering training, credit, storage to farmers & providing investment solutions to financial partners