Meet The Agri-tech Startup From Sweden That Lets You Invest In Somali Livestock- Valutrics

On the App Store today, you will find many an app that will let you do some hardcore trading and investing in stocks, commodities, gold, currencies, etc. no matter the country or region you are in.

However, you will probably not find any apps like Ari.farm—a platform that lets its users invest in livestock in Somalia.

Yes, you heard that right—goats, as well as sheep, and in Somalia.

Stockholm-based Ari.farm is the brainchild of Mohamed Jumale, a Somali-origin Swede who moved to the Scandinavian country about eight years ago.

Jumale describes Ari.fam as a ‘crowdfarming’ platform, which he claims is making a real difference in the lives of livestock-owning farmers (nomads) in Somalia.

Jumale, a techie who has previously worked with the UN, explains that in Somalia, livestock trading is a seasonal activity.

“Somali has a huge livestock market which goes up or down depending on the seasons. Typically, farmers don’t find buyers for the animals during the low season,” he says. “So I came upon this crazy idea of letting these farmers sell their animals to the rest of the world online.”

Using the Ari.farm platform via the app, or the computer, people sitting anywhere in the world can become livestock investors by checking, choosing, and purchasing goats or sheep in Somalia.

Jumale and his team of coordinators in Somalia do the rest.

“We buy the goats on the ground and take care of them along with the farmers. Investors own the animal 100% until we sell the animal. Throughout the ownership, they get updates about the animal’s health, a breakup of costs, market prices, etc.”

Female goats and sheep go for about $200, as they are used for breeding [investors own the offspring, should there be any during ownership], while male goats and sheep are typically sold for $75.

Consequently, females are held for longer, typically three years while males are held for about six months.

“Because we typically buy the livestock in bulk during the low season [Somalia has two low seasons], we make a profit when we do sell them in the high season,” he explains.

This achieves two goals—it makes sure farmers get to earn a livelihood during the low seasons using their only asset, the livestock, while investors make a return on their investment when the goats are sold.

Ari.farm has sold over 500 animals to 300 people across 15 countries since its inception in the middle of 2016.

Investors help make farmers in Somalia more sustainable but also make money from this act of social good, says Jumale.

“The profit is shared between us [they make a commission] and the investors. We have people who have already made 10% to 30% in profits,” he says. “We also take the risk and if any animal dies while in ownership, we replace it for free.”

Up next for Jumale is scale. He wants to make Ari.farm bigger with more animals and also expand to cover livestock markets in other countries with similar conditions.

“We will also sell camels soon.”