Country:
Kenya
SokoFresh
Addressing post harvest loss through cooling as a service, coupled with a market linkage service to small holder farmers and aggregators
Key Highlights
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Technology Adaptation -
Technology Cooling
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Country Kenya
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Business type Scale-up
- 15.3% Project IRR (upside)
- 0.129 Installed capacity (MW)
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Regional Coordinator
- Find out more
Kenya alone represents 5 million potential customers for the sub-Saharan African market for off-grid solar cold storage solutions, with smallholder farmers and cooperatives in off-grid areas as the primary target population. However, despite the country’s heavy dependence on agriculture, adoption of cold storage in Kenya remains low. Nearly half of Kenya’s horticultural produce fails to reach the market, with 56% of these losses attributed to post-harvest and storage issues. Despite the highly distributed nature of food production in Kenya, where approximately 5 million smallholder farmers account for 90% of production, many lack the financial means to invest in professional equipment.
To address these challenges, SokoFresh offers affordable cold storage services to Kenyan farmers and agribusinesses, integrating them with market linkage services. Providing first-mile off-grid pay-as-you-go cold storage, coupled with market linkage services, SokoFresh has successfully onboarded over 800 farmers and deployed three cold storage systems. These solutions are strategically located near production points to ensure accessibility and affordability for smallholder farmers, who often face financial constraints.
“We started SokoFresh to address the challenge of post-harvest loss, mainly in horticultural value chains, where we saw that about 30% to 40% of the produce that smallholder farmers were harvesting was not getting to the market”
With over 50 years of experience in agribusiness, SokoFresh operates across Kenya, serving various clients, including wholesale market vendors, exporters, supermarket chains and social enterprises. Michael Kariuki, Hub Operator at SokoFresh, explains their operations, “We work with agents who serve as our representatives on the ground, engaging directly with farmers. They scout for available fruits from various farms and collaborate with us to schedule harvest dates.”
To scale their business, SokoFresh sought support from PFAN. We paired them with Nairobi-based PFAN Advisor Gideon Laux, who targeted their business development needs and prepared them to pitch to investors. “We initially assisted the company by reviewing their investor documents, business plan, financial model and pitch deck, as well as providing guidance to ensure they were prepared for investor expectations.” According to Laux, companies like SokoFresh offer significant value to the Eastern African market by providing cold storage solutions to smallholder farmers, helping them extend the shelf life of their produce and fetching higher prices in the market as a result.
SokoFresh employees sort an avocado harvest at one of their hubs near Nairobi, Kenya.
“PFAN has supported us byproviding advisors who have helped develop the necessary materials and preparations for SokoFresh to secure debt investment”
SokoFresh has made a significant impact by linking 23 cold storage hubs, benefiting 11,366 farmers, of whom 36.7% are women. Gloria Nkatha, Hub Operator at SokoFresh, underscores the positive change, “When we intervened, we helped them in terms of the volumes they receive. Now that we purchase by kilos, farmers earn more compared to dealing with brokers.” SokoFresh not only improves the livelihoods of rural agricultural communities but also provides women farmers with access to cold storage, thus boosting their incomes.
A satisfied customer shares their positive experience, “On average, within about two weeks, you will likely find another fruit ready for picking. Using SokoFresh has helped me increase my earnings”.