Cowtribe was founded in 2017 with the simple but powerful idea of making a smart logistics platform that would aggregate the demand of farmers for livestock products down to the last mile and then deliver those goods directly to their farms. They thought that if farmers raised healthy animals, it would make them “happy.” More than ever, Cowtribe is the best way to get veterinary care to far-flung parts of Africa.
They use technology to make sure that vaccines and other health supplies for animals get to remote and underserved parts of Ghana. More than 5,000 small-scale livestock farmers take part in their “last-mile” program, and they are always looking for ways to improve how they bring together demand and deliver products.
By 2019, they had been focusing on growing their upstream capabilities by offering distribution and fulfillment to agrovet shops in Ghana, and by the end of 2021, they wanted to have built a network of at least 200 agro-veterinary partners, put in place efficient just-in-time delivery support based on real-time stock data, improved inventory management, and made the client experience better in person.
How it Works
Zhulia
Zhulia is an enterprise resource planning system for small farms that is easy to use. Zhulia is a two-part system made up of a point-of-sale app that can be downloaded on any smartphone to help with in-store transactions and a retail manager app that helps store owners track stock, track sales, track finances, and place orders for pharmaceuticals, animal feed, and other supplies.
Zhulia is like a well-trained employee who is essential to the smooth running of your store. Zhulia has some interesting features, like alerting users when they’re running low on supplies and letting them reorder items with just one click. It sends you an email or text message when some items in your stock are getting close to their expiration dates.
Agrovets can collect sales data to analyze and report on with the help of extra features like reports and analytics. This will also help businesses find patterns, like which of their items sell quickly and which are most popular at certain times.
Vaccine Delivery System
The goal of the Transforming the Vaccine Delivery System Project is to give women, smallholder farmers, and business owners more freedom by getting rid of the many problems they face in researching, making, distributing, and using vaccines.
Among the goals of the project are to improve the vaccine value chain and close the gender gap in access to vaccinations.
CARE International and the International Livestock Research Institute are working with Cowtribe on this study. CARE International is a group that works to save lives and reduce poverty, with a focus on women’s rights.
Cowtribe is very important because it gives these women a way to give digital vaccinations to their animals. Using a participatory approach, they ask the women how they would like the system to change their lives and through interviews with livestock producers and other key players in the vaccine delivery system, like Veterinary Agents and Field Technicians, they can confirm that their digital platform effectively closed the gender gap in vaccination coverage.
Cowtribe is always looking for ways to make sure that its services don’t treat people differently based on their gender. So, they are always looking for new ways to make sure that all of their farmers have equal access to veterinary care.
Bundling Service
Cowtribe has started a new service strategy that combines vaccination with agro-inputs and loans. This will make it easier for farmers to get agro-inputs and make sure that their cattle are vaccinated every year.
Bundling their vaccination service packages with other fast-moving inputs like fertilizers and seeds has helped them get more subscribers and payments while keeping the cost of collecting payments to a minimum.
Getting farmers to sign up for vaccinations at the same time they buy agro-inputs is more effective. Adding the vaccination costs to the input costs instead of selling them separately takes advantage of the fact that people tend to think of the vaccine for their animals and the bag of seeds as a single unit.
Additionally, farmers will be more likely to sign up for their service after they get to know and like it. In turn, this will make them more productive and less likely to starve. Most farmers will be able to try vaccinations for the first time because they won’t have to pay for each shot separately. This is called “bundling.”
Founders
Peter Awin
Peter Awin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cowtribe.
He is a synthesizer who enjoys taking ideas that have mismatched strands and gladly weaving them into something that makes the world a better place.
He previously worked at Afrilead Institute as a Founder and CEO.
Peter Awin attended the University for Development Studies.
Alima Bawah
Alima Bawah is the Co-Founder and Chief Engagement Officer of Cowtribe.
She previously worked at Kic Foundation as a Program Manager.
Alima Bawah attended KNUST School of Business.
Investors & Funding Rounds
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
CowTribe has raised a total of $300,000, which will help it reach more people in the West African country.
The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is based in the United States and It supports and invests in social entrepreneurs like Cowtribe who are working to solve major global problems.
Cowtribe has helped more than 30,000 farmers in more than 120 communities since it started. It has handled more than 9,000 requests for vaccinations and made more than $100,000.
It only serves four of Ghana’s ten regions right now, but with the new capital, it plans to serve the whole country.
They also want to use the money to become the market leader in Ghana, strengthen their brand, and make it impossible for competitors to steal Cowtribe’s customers.
Additionally, Mali and Burkina Faso are probably the next two African countries on their list of places to serve and grow.
Main Competitors
VetSource:This is a pharmaceutical company that sells medicines and vaccinations for pets.
Vinyl Me, Please: It is a record club that helps people learn more about the music they like.
Itch: It gathers information about its users so that it can make unique monthly care packages for your pet’s health.
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Almentor: Story, Founders, Investors & Funding Rounds