Photo credit: Anne Maftei

Making digital
platforms work for
women in rural &
agricultural
Placeholder space for photo
livelihoods
Final Report

December 2022
 Disclaimer
This work was funded in whole or in part by CGAP.
Unlike CGAP's official publications, it has not been peer
reviewed or edited by CGAP, and any conclusions or
viewpoints expressed are those of the authors, and they
may or may not reflect the views of CGAP staff.
This report was authored by Anne Maftei of Value for Women (VfW), and Sarah Devermann of ISF Advisors,
with significant input from Matt Shakhovskoy of ISF Advisors, and Katie Naeve of Value for Women. Core
research support was provided by a joint VfW-ISF Advisors team that also included Renée Hunter and Vartika
Shukla from Value for Women. Editorial support was provided by Shoshana Grossman-Crist, with graphic
design by Gerardo Mejia.

2
Table of Contents
1. Background
2. Research Objectives and Approach
3. Conceptual Model & Best Practices Framework
4. Key Findings
5. Platform Opportunity Areas
A. Embedding gender into organizational strategy
B. Sex-disaggregating data for better decision-making
C. Experimenting around women-focused innovations
D. Increasing income-generating opportunities for rural women as platform service providers
6. Recommendations for Investors and Donors
Appendix

3
Terminology
Digital agriculture platforms: Platforms that facilitate direct interactions between multiple users for the purpose of exchange.
Platforms can be broadly grouped into three marketplace models:

■ Product marketplace: Platform that connects smallholder farmers to physical markets both to and from the farm,
including farm inputs suppliers and various kinds of off-takers (processors, traders, retailers, consumers).
■ Integrated product and services marketplace: Platform that facilitates farmers’ access to a holistic, bundled offer.
Similar to a product marketplace, but offering farmers a broader range of services (i.e. inputs, financing).
■ Services marketplace: Platform that connects farmers to equipment and/or other service providers.

Field agents: Individuals deployed to provide on-the-ground support to platform operations. Use cases vary by platform, but
agents may provide advisory services to farmers, collect data for the platform, support farmers in accessing the platform, and
potentially also support with farmer acquisition and onboarding, logistics, and fulfillment.

Gender-forward business practices (GFBPs): Actions that businesses undertake to promote gender equality across their
customers, workforce, value chains, platform workers, and/or providers.

Gender-forward business: A business that intentionally seeks to address gender inequalities by providing goods and services
that close gender gaps or meet the needs of women or girls; supports gender diversity through internal policies and practices in the
workplace; and/or strengthens inclusion and diversity along the value chain.

WIRAL: Acronym for “women in rural and agricultural livelihoods”.

For additional details on digital agriculture platforms and specific model types, see ISF’s 2021 report 4
I. BACKGROUND

5
Photo credit: Huxta from MCF
 Background I
CONTEXT

Rural women play a central role in rural economies

yet face significant challenges
79% of economically active women in developing countries report that agriculture is their primary economic activity.

However, in many rural settings these women face substantial barriers to accessing the opportunities that would enable them to build
resilient livelihoods in the agricultural sector. These barriers include:

LACK OF LAND TIME POVERTY FEWER LESS ACCESS TO RESTRICTIVE SOCIAL NORMS
OWNERSHIP In low-income AGRICULTURAL FINANCE In some countries, norms dictate
Worldwide, women countries, rural INPUTS Women are less likely how women should spend their
make up fewer than women work up to If women had the to have a bank time, who they can interact with,
15% of all agricultural 12 hours more per same access as account, receive and where they can go, thus
landholders week in the men, their crop yields smaller loans, and entrenching women’s economic
household than men could increase often don’t control and financial exclusion
20-30% their own incomes

These barriers were further exacerbated by COVID-19. School closures massively reduced the time women could dedicate to
income-generating activities, since caregiving responsibilities disproportionately fall on women. Restrictions on movement cut them off
from markets and other spaces that are critical sources of information, networks, and other forms of support.
6
 Background I
OPPORTUNITY

Digital agriculture platforms offer unique

opportunities for smallholder farmers
Platforms are built upon network effects through enabling multiple users on both sides of an exchange to interact, creating shared
value* for both platform providers and end users. By leveraging technology to capitalize on these interactions, digital agriculture
platforms have the ability to:

Improve market Increase access to Increase access to

Improve
linkages between information, through finance, by providing
access to markets,
farmers and other value facilitating information farmers with a digital
through disintermediating
chain actors, through sharing financial footprint from
or re-intermediating
efficiently connecting (ex. pricing information, transactional data on the
markets
multiple users best practice knowledge) platform

This is particularly relevant because the platform market is growing rapidly: in 2021, ISF mapped over 75 agriculture-specific platform
models.

*According to the 2011 Harvard Business Review article, Creating Shared Value, shared value is defined as “policies and operating practices that enhance the
competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates.” 7
 Background I
OPPORTUNITY

These unique opportunities can particularly help

rural women overcome barriers
Improve access Improve market Increase access Increase access
to markets linkages to information to finance

Rural women are less likely to Restrictive social norms, Digital platforms facilitate Rural women have lower
access or hold relationships time poverty, and mobility the exchange of information overall access to financial
with brokers/traders who are constraints affect with and knowledge (e.g. prices, services than men, often due
typically men. Platforms whom rural women can off-takers) that are crucial to to their inability to meet
expand the gateways to interact, and the types of competitively participate in, basic requirements (e.g.
markets and products and services they and benefit from, markets collateral, ID document, land
income-generating can access. Digital platforms and that are often out of title). The use of
opportunities for women, and can unlock access to reach to rural women due to transactional data to create
reduce the potential for economic opportunities for their restricted mobility and customer profiles can unlock
discrimination that can occur rural women that would lower inclusion in male access to finance for
in face- to-face interactions. otherwise be out of reach. dominated spaces. women.

Examples of benefits for women platform users (based on platform interviews)

Ability to access savings

Selling products at Supplementing income
Improved confidence products from partner
increased, fairer prices as platform agents
financial institutions

Adapted from CGAP WIRAL Literature review synthesis 8

 Background I
CHALLENGE

Digital platforms are struggling to reach and

meaningfully engage with rural women
Data shows that:

1 Most AgTechs are still working out 2 …and most AgTechs are struggling 3 …and usage rates suggest that,
how to scale their models, to engage rural women: women when AgTechs do reach rural
particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa… represent 40 to 50% of smallholder women, they are not sufficiently
farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, serving them, thus limiting the
however make up only 25% of potential for meaningful impact
AgTech users… on women’s lives

The digital gender divide contributes to this struggle

There is a well-documented gap in women’s uptake of mobile phones in general. While mobile phone access is growing– 60% of
women across low and middle income countries use mobile internet –low usage rates suggest that mobile phones are not
succeeding in addressing women’s needs and constraints. Women face barriers that prevent them from fully leveraging mobile
services including: i) literacy and digital skills; ii) affordability; and iii) safety and security. These barriers likely contribute to the low
digital platform engagement numbers among rural women, and are important context for analyzing platform opportunities in the
agriculture sector and beyond.

9
II.
RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES AND
APPROACH

Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr10

 Research Objectives and Approach II
We explore how platforms
can drive increased impact for rural women
Research Objectives Research Approach

CGAP engaged Value for Women (VfW) and ISF Advisors to This research effort included four key components:
conduct research on how digital platforms can improve
1. An extensive literature review of the latest research
engagement with, and impact on, rural women. There were three
primary research objectives: and findings around both rural women and digital
platforms;
1 2. Development of a conceptual model and a best
Formalize the gender impact thesis to understand how
practices framework to structure and contextualize
platform-specific responses can unlock social and
economic value. the detailed research with platform providers;
3. A gender self assessment survey with 8 platform
2 providers, building on the VfW Gender Smart Nexus
Identify best practices that leading agriculture platforms survey; and
have implemented to better reach and impact rural women
users.
4. A deep dive case study with 4 of the survey
respondents, that included interviews with the CEO and
key staff (see details on next slide).
3 Provide guidance to key stakeholders (e.g. donors, sector
support organizations, government partners, financial
service providers) on how to prioritize interventions to Findings have all been cross-referenced with other research findings
improve platform services for rural women. from ISF and VfW work and anonymized where appropriate.

Additional details on the research approach are included in the Appendix. 11

 Research Objectives and Approach II
Deep dives with 4 platforms
to examine their potential to impact rural women
Focus platforms

AFEX is a leading digital platform operating Founded in 2018, CoAmana is a

in Nigeria. Their core business revolves growing digital platform based in Nigeria.
around a commodities exchange, and they CoAmana supports farmers and
work directly with smallholder farmers to businesses with access to market trade
enable this exchange. services and fulfillment solutions.

Copia is a rapidly growing B2C e-commerce

Samunnati is a major Indian digital
platform headquartered in Kenya. They offer
platform that works directly with farmer
household goods in addition to agricultural
producer organizations. To date, they
products, and have extensive reach into rural
have reached over 4 million farmers.
areas.

These platforms were prioritized based on diversity of business models and geographies, as well as demonstrated focus on working with rural
women. Given the small sample size, findings were aggregated across all platform types.

12
III.
CONCEPTUAL
MODEL & BEST
PRACTICES
FRAMEWORK

Photo credit: PENDING13

 Conceptual Model & Best Practices Framework III
This research uses a model to consider digital
platforms’ impact on women in a broader context
Commercial digital platforms operate in a business climate that often prioritizes profit over impact. Yet, gendered market barriers directly
impact platforms’ engagement with rural women and, thus, profit. In the face of this, implementing gender-forward business practices
can help counteract some of the barriers in the operating environment to both positively impact rural women and unlock value.

…shapes rural women’s

The operating …which platforms can …in ways that can unlock
ambitions, needs, & service
environment… respond to… social and economic value
opportunities...
Key elements include: Needs, ambitions, and Platform-specific responses to Successful platform
opportunities should be WIRAL service opportunities engagement of WIRAL can
■ SOCIAL NORMS governing considered against the operating include action at different levels: generate:
how WIRAL engage (e.g. environment, to determine:
decision-making, family ■ STRATEGIC ORIENTATION ■ SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
expectations) ■ SEGMENTED WIRAL NEEDS VALUE for direct WIRAL
■ ORGANIZATIONAL MAKEUP
■ ACCESS TO TECH that that reveal distinct customer customers, employees,
determines how easily requirements and possibilities ■ CUSTOMER TARGETING and/or agents
WIRAL can engage (e.g. to add value AND SEGMENTATION
■ ECONOMIC AND BRAND
mobile ownership)
■ SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES ■ PRODUCT AND SERVICE VALUE for the platform
■ BUSINESS CLIMATE AND that are distinct to WIRAL DESIGN operator
REGULATION that influences needs ■ MARKETING AND ■ ECONOMIC VALUE for other
or limits WIRAL participation
ACQUISITION market participants (ex.
(e.g. business registration)
financial institutions, buyers,
■ INVOLVING WIRAL IN
■ UNIQUE AG MARKET importers)
BUSINESS MODEL
DYNAMICS that position
WIRAL in certain ways

FEEDBACK LOOP: SUCCESSFUL SERVICES CAN ALSO CHANGE THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
14
 Conceptual Model & Best Practices Framework III
Gender-forward business practices framework
Leveraging VfW’s extensive experience working with companies to incorporate gender-forward practices, ISF and VfW set out to define a
set of indicators for gender-forward business practices in digital platforms, aligned to the conceptual model (slide 14). These served as
a foundation for our research with the platforms, but also represent a curated list of best practices that platforms, and their investors
and donors, can adopt to create shared value for platforms and the women that engage with them.

Serve as
foundational STRATEGIC ORIENTATION ORGANIZATIONAL MAKEUP
best practices
that influence ■ Demonstrated focus on gender equality in organizational strategy ■ Inclusive policies and procedures
a platform’s ■ Allocated time in staff and board meetings to discuss gender ■ Provision of training on gender equality, diversity, and inclusion
actions in the equality ■ Sex-disaggregation of workforce composition data
other four best ■ Allocated budget for gender-related initiatives ■ Initiatives to increase representation of women in leadership
practice areas

PRODUCT & SERVICE DESIGN MARKETING & ACQUISITION

■ Use of differentiated marketing channels to reach rural women
■ Incorporation of gender considerations in product design
segments
■ Regular consultations with WIRAL to solicit feedback
■ Use of sex-disaggregated user data to support decision-making
■ Design of service offerings that are relevant to WIRAL needs
■ Established targets for WIRAL customer acquisition

CUSTOMER TARGETING & SEGMENTATION INVOLVING WIRAL IN BUSINESS MODEL

■ Recognition of segments and subsegments of WIRAL customers ■ Sex-disaggregation of vendor/agent/provider composition data
when designing offerings ■ Initiatives to increase WIRAL representation in business model
■ Tailored marketing, services, and sales efforts to the needs of ■ Tailored capacity building for WIRAL vendors/agents/providers
specific segments of WIRAL ■ Differentiated support to address WIRAL-specific constraints
15
IV.
KEY FINDINGS

16
Photo credit: Huxta from MCF
 Key Findings IV
Overall, platforms are just beginning to
translate their gender intentions into concrete
actions

■ Digital platforms are rapidly growing and ■ There are indications that platforms are starting
their business models are becoming to adopt a gender lens as they consider their
increasingly diverse, with many early optimal workforce, customer base, and
pioneers starting to make headway with funding
models that can work in challenging
smallholder markets

■ When compared against the six key business ■ However, the full integration of a gender
areas outlined in our framework (slide 14), lens is still at an early stage and largely not
there are encouraging examples of seen as critical to making a commercial model
gender-intentional actions and the sorts successful.
of commercial and impact outcomes that can
be achieved

17
 Key Findings IV
Considered in terms of the best practice areas,
platforms are still at an early stage
Best practice area Alignment with best practice Summary of findings
Foundational best practices

LOW HIGH
Platforms recognize gender as an important consideration, but
STRATEGIC ORIENTATION
struggle to translate that commitment into concrete actions.

Platforms have important foundations in place for building inclusive

ORGANIZATIONAL MAKEUP workplaces, but key challenges remain in achieving gender balance
especially in leadership & field-based positions.

Most platforms are not systematically sex-disaggregating their data

CUSTOMER TARGETING &
(beyond basic user information), which hampers their ability to tailor
SEGMENTATION
strategies to different customer/user segments.

Some platforms have made adaptations to their offering to better meet

PRODUCT & SERVICE DESIGN
the needs of rural women, but this is not yet part of business-as-usual.

Some platforms deploy tailored marketing & sales strategies, but overall
MARKETING & ACQUISITION acquisition of rural women remains hampered by a variety of challenges
inherent to their operating environment.

Few platforms are deploying intentional strategies to integrate more

INVOLVING WIRAL IN
women income-earners (e.g. agents, vendors), but there are
BUSINESS MODEL
encouraging signs of tailored support services to this group.

Over time, platforms should aim to be implementing best practices in all areas
18
 Key Findings IV
Despite this early stage in their gender-lens
journeys, some platforms are starting to innovate
Best practice area Emerging exemplars Snapshot
Foundational best practices

CoAmana’s gender lens was built into the company from the beginning, and this commitment
STRATEGIC ORIENTATION is reflected throughout the organization, from its internal policies and practices to the way it
collects and takes action on sex-disaggregated data.

AFEX has strong women’s representation in leadership: 50% of the C-Suite is women.
ORGANIZATIONAL MAKEUP Furthermore, AFEX has robust policies and procedures on gender equality, which they report
contributes to employee satisfaction and retention.

CoAmana has a systematic approach to data analysis which allows them to identify gendered
CUSTOMER TARGETING &
SEGMENTATION consumer patterns. For instance, CoAmana recognized that women value trust and
relationships with platforms, which prompted them to establish an all-women call center.

Samunnati is launching a grant-funded initiative to target 10,000 women. As they design their
PRODUCT & SERVICE DESIGN offering, they are making sure to explicitly take women’s needs into account (e.g. incorporating
financial literacy into their customer advisory offerings).

AFEX recently launched an initiative to recruit top women farmers as platform extension
MARKETING & ACQUISITION workers. They expect these workers will capitalize on their networks to bring additional women
onto the platform.

The majority of Copia’s field agents are women. Recognizing the gender gap in mobile phone
INVOLVING WIRAL IN
and internet access, Copia launched an asset-financing offering to help agents purchase a
BUSINESS MODEL
phone. They expect these efforts to increase their agents’ efficiency and incomes.
19
 Key Findings IV
This research identified four opportunities to
increase shared value for rural women & platform
providers
Going forward, we anticipate that in the short term many, if not all, platforms will continue to be focused on working out how to
achieve profitability and scale. However, we believe that gender-forward practices could become a core part of that plan–
especially if platforms recognize the commercial importance of women as a customer segment.
For this, we have outlined what we think are the four most important building blocks from the best practices framework for
platforms to improve engagement of, and impact on, rural women:

BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS… …TO IMPROVE WIRAL

ENGAGEMENT (AND IMPACT)

A C
Embedding gender into organizational Experimenting around women-focused
strategy innovations

B D
Leveraging sex-disaggregated data for better Increasing income-generating opportunities
decision-making for rural women as platform service providers

These four opportunity areas can be leveraged by both platform operators and supporting organizations to promote improved
commercial and gender outcomes in the rural agriculture sector.
Each of these opportunity areas is further examined on the following slides through i) cross-cutting insights across platforms, ii)
case studies on individual platforms demonstrating best practices, and iii) recommendations to act on each opportunity area
20
V.
PLATFORM
OPPORTUNITY
AREAS

21
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr
 PLATFORM OPPORTUNITY A

EMBEDDING GENDER INTO

ORGANIZATIONAL
STRATEGY
A
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr
22
 Platform Opportunity A V

INSIGHT
There is a gap between platforms’ gender intentions and
their practical actions

Platforms in our sample recognize the importance of gender equality and inclusion, and include them in their organizational missions
and vision statements. However, there is a gap between what is said and the practical actions being taken. This is a common
challenge experienced by businesses across types and sectors.

Survey findings (based on 8 platforms surveyed)

Mission or objective explicitly focused on promoting gender equality 4 4

Explicitly made gender equality a top 5 priority 4 4 INTENTIONS

Released a public statement outlining commitment to gender equality 4 4

Carried out gender related trainings 3 5

ACTIONS
Allocate time in Staff and Board Meetings 1 7

Allocated budget for gender-related initiatives 3 5

Yes No and/or No, but currently working on this

23
 Platform Opportunity A V

■ Companies often don’t know where to start, don’t know what actions to take, and lack
the necessary resources and time. Only one platform surveyed indicated that they
allocate time at board or leadership meetings to discuss gender equality– a
common best practice for any initiative to ensure it receives consistent and
sustained attention, and necessary resources. CASE STUDY: As an AgTech operating
in Nigeria, AFEX must contend with a
■ Our research uncovered a number of examples of platforms implementing one-off challenging operating environment
initiatives that have a gender focus, and some associated gender targets. However, where gender norms heavily influence
companies often do not have a holistic approach to targeting women throughout women’s participation in the economy.
their business operations, as leaders, workers or customers/users. There’s little These norms affect AFEX’s ability to
recruit women in certain position (e.g.
integration of gender considerations across all programs or the rest of the company.
in the field) and are reflected in the low
Without this, these initiatives will continue to be seen as separate from the platform’s level of women in their customer base
overall business growth strategy, rather than as fundamental components to (~20% of end users are women). As
achieving growth. AFEX enters the scaling phase, the
AgTech is increasingly thinking– and
■ Our research, complemented by findings from adjacent sectors, indicate this gap being more deliberate– about gender,
between platforms’ intentions and implementation could be exacerbated by including explicitly calling out gender
challenging gender dynamics in the markets in which they operate as well as by lack equality in their theory of change.
of women’s representation within the company, especially at the leadership level.
Additional details on AFEX’s initiatives
are included in the Appendix.

24
 Platform Opportunity A V
The importance of women in leadership
GREATER REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN DECISION-MAKING POSITIONS TENDS TO
POSITIVELY INFLUENCE AN ORGANIZATION’S STRATEGIC DIRECTION
■ Increasing women’s representation in leadership positions not only brings new perspectives, but
also shifts the way management thinks. This is especially important for digital platforms that are
often operating in challenging environments where innovation and creative solutions are
needed to help tackle pervasive barriers that prevent rural women from accessing and using

38%
platform services.

■ Greater gender balance in leadership is also good for business. Companies with gender
balanced leadership teams have outperformed unbalanced peers in median valuation increases of platforms surveyed
by as much as 25%. Research has shown that firms with more women in senior positions are have at least 30%
more socially responsible, and provide safer, higher-quality customer experiences. women on the board
PLATFORMS SURVEYED SHOW INITIAL PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING THIS INCLUSION

■ Adjacent sectors to this research, such as FinTech, see a lack of women’s representation at
board levels and in top rungs of the corporate ladder. We see this in our sample too.

■ However, we also see several platforms taking intentional steps to establish policies and
practices that create more inclusive workplaces (e.g. maternity leave beyond national minimum 50%
requirements, accommodations for breastfeeding and expressing milk) and to support women’s of platforms surveyed
career trajectories, with the understanding that these efforts will help differentiate them from have at least 30%
competitors, and attract talent at all levels. women in the C-Suite

25
 Platform Opportunity A
V
RECOMMENDATION

Platforms should establish a holistic gender strategy, with clear

objectives and targets defined using their data

■ A gender strategy offers the following benefits:

○ Supports the platform to become more intentional about gender

○ Supports the platform to unlock new market opportunities, improve organizational performance, and reach scale
more quickly.
○ Supports fundraising, as the platform can leverage their gender strategy to attract additional funding from
gender-lens investors and donors to support specific actions.

■ Typical components of a gender strategy include:

○ Clear objectives that are aligned with overall organizational goals

○ Specific targets (e.g. 40% of active users are women by 2025)
○ Key performance indicators to assess progress towards targets, and measure success (e.g. active usage,
disaggregated by sex and measured quarterly; percentage of women in C-Suite, measured annually)

■ With the gender strategy in hand, platforms should then develop a gender action plan, outlining specific actions that need
to be implemented in order to reach the gender goals outlined in the strategy (with roles/responsibilities, allocated
resources/budget, and timeline for completion for each action). The best practices framework developed as part of this
research can be used to identify key actions to include in this plan.

26
 PLATFORM OPPORTUNITY B

SEX-DISAGGREGATING
DATA FOR BETTER
DECISION-MAKING
B
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr
27
 Platform Opportunity B
V

INSIGHT
Platforms’ sex-disaggregated data is not currently being
optimized for decision-making

Platforms are struggling to collect and take action on the basis of their data: 43% of platforms in
our sample indicated sex-disaggregated data collection and business intelligence was one of
their top three challenges. This is a significant missed opportunity for achieving commercial and Adjacent sector insight:
gender outcomes– especially for businesses models that are so dependent on data. Top reasons cited for FinTechs not
sex-disaggregating data:
SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA FOR TARGET SETTING & ■ 23% wanted to consider it, but
PRIORITIZATION: did not have resources to
capture it
The collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data is the typical starting point for increasing
■ 20% did not consider gender to
gender inclusion both inside a company and through the products and services they offer. Data
be an important variable
can tell: how many rural women a platform is serving, how well it is currently serving rural women,
and the value being generated by WIRAL as customers and/or agents. ■ 17% data privacy norms
hindered it
Among the sample:
■ 10% are in pre-launch phase
■ Nearly all platforms collect basic sex-disaggregated data on their end users and (have not yet launched
workforce, and nearly half of platforms who have agents can also sex-disaggregate that products)
data. Source: Financial Alliance for Women, How
FinTechs can Profit from the
■ However, the majority of platforms do not appear to have a structured process in place Multi-Trillion-Dollar Female Economy, 2020.
for analyzing this data and taking action, such as using the data to establish goals and
targets. 28
 Platform Opportunity B
V

SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING

CONSUMER PATTERNS:
Sex-disaggregated data enables better business intelligence, helps uncover hidden CASE STUDY: CoAmana uses a variety of
business opportunities, and ensures that different customer segments are being served methods to capture customer data, including
well. When reviewing customer segments, data enables platforms to define the distinct collecting sex-disaggregated data at the
sub-segments of women customers, and consider those relevant to their business. registration stage, sex-disaggregating retention
rates, and documenting feedback from calls
Among the sample: coming into the call center. This proactive
approach to data collection has allowed
■ A few platforms rely on field-based staff to solicit feedback, however they do CoAmana to segment their customer base
not tend to sex-disaggregate it. according to patterns of usage and behavior, and
uncover insights on customer acquisition costs.
■ Four out of eight platforms tailor their marketing and sales strategies to target CoAmana then uses these data-driven insights to
women. They do so by including in their marketing materials messages, inform strategic initiatives, product design, and
language, and imagery that appeal to women, and using marketing channels that marketing strategies, allowing them to
are more likely to reach women. consistently improve their efforts to engage
women customers.
■ Only one platform interviewed– CoAmana –seems to be leveraging the data
Additional details on CoAmana’s initiatives are
and insights it collects across various user engagement channels to tease out included in the Appendix.
the differences between segments and sub-segments of users.

29
 Platform Opportunity B
V

SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA FOR DESIGNING PRODUCTS:

Adjacent sector insight:
Ideally, platforms make adjustments to marketing approaches, customer acquisition
strategies, and product design on the basis of data-driven insights. Systematic Although nearly 80% of FinTechs
sex-disaggregated data analysis is also critical for platforms to be aware of opportunities studied can disaggregate the
they are currently missing out on. proportion of their customers that are
women, most do not use
Among the sample: sex-disaggregated data to inform
decisions at any stage in the business
■ The majority of platforms lack a systematic approach to leveraging lifecycle.
sex-disaggregated data analysis for product adaptation or product design.
Source: Financial Alliance for Women, How FinTechs
can Profit from the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Female
■ Instead, platforms are making piecemeal or ad hoc adjustments to existing Economy, 2020.
offerings. While these types of adjustments signal willingness to tailor offerings to
the needs of women users, a more systematic approach to analyzing
sex-disaggregated data should be part of business-as-usual.

30
 Platform Opportunity B
V
RECOMMENDATION

Digital platforms should improve their sex-disaggregated data

collection and data-driven decision-making

A systematic approach to data collection and data-driven decision-making can help platforms leverage their data for commercial
and gender outcomes. Platforms can start to do this through the following next steps:

1) Target setting and prioritization: Once a platform has defined their gender strategy and associated key
performance indicators, they should establish a strategy-priorities-targets-measurement system centered around data. This
will enable actioning on priorities.
2) Understanding customer patterns: An important (and simple) step is for platforms to sex-disaggregate existing
data– such as customer ratings or satisfaction scores –to understand satisfaction levels for different sub-segments of
women (and other users, such as men and youth). Platforms can also collect data through publicly available datasets, focus
groups, and feedback pop-ups on the platform.
3) Designing products: Insight on customer patterns from the preceding action can then be leveraged in the product
design process. This could result in finding ‘quick wins’ (i.e. shifting land requirements from individual names to family
names given barriers for women to access land) or more robust product shifts (i.e. designing products specifically for
women).

Platforms that implement this systematic data-driven approach can then quantify their impact and showcase it to potential investors.

31
 PLATFORM OPPORTUNITY C

EXPERIMENTING AROUND
WOMEN-FOCUSED
INNOVATIONS
C
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr
32
 Platform Opportunity C
V

INSIGHT
Digital platforms are beginning to enhance their products
and services to increase engagement of rural women

■ Platforms are recognizing that women are being inadvertently excluded from
accessing their standard offerings due to either the platform’s own requirements or Adjacent sector insights:
demand-side challenges.
■ When starting out, FinTechs tend to
■ Despite the platforms operating in different markets, we saw similarities in the focus on early adopters so they can
grow their user base and capture
challenges they faced when engaging women. Platforms identified land access as a
investor interest. Men are perceived to
major challenge in both India and Sub-Saharan Africa (required by platforms for
be early adopters.
accessing credit and input services on platforms). Women’s lack of digital literacy is
also prevalent across markets. ■ As a result, FinTechs begin tailoring
products and services based on the
■ We see some experimentation happening at the product/service level. needs of primarily men customers.
○ One platform has tested out better terms/rates to women farmers, although
they note that this has had the unintended consequence of men taking out ■ This results in a self-reinforcing spiral
loans in women’s names. of FinTechs catering their offerings to
○ A platform that works through cooperatives has encouraged the cooperatives men. This is particularly the case if the
to adjust their requirements to allow land to be in the family name, in order FinTech does not have a gender
for women farmers to more easily become cooperative members. strategy.
○ Another platform has launched an asset financing pilot to enable their Source: Financial Alliance for Women, How FinTechs
women agents to access the digital tools they need (internet, mobile device) can Profit from the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Female
Economy, 2020.
to engage efficiently and effectively with the platform.

33
 Platform Opportunity C
V
RECOMMENDATION

Platforms can leverage their own data and industry leading practices
to continuously innovate
■ Platforms can start by taking a look at their current offering with a gender lens to
determine if there are any “quick wins” they can achieve. A first step could be to collect
user feedback on the offerings available and sex-disaggregate these findings.
■ Platforms can find inspiration in the following promising innovations, recognizing that CASE STUDY: Samunnati, an integrated
product/service innovations will need to look different depending on the context and product & services marketplace, recently
platform model: received patient capital to set up and
onboard 100 women-led farmer producer
○ The use of in-person agents to increase registration for digital marketplaces (e.g. organizations onto their platform.
DigiFarm Village Advisors) Samunnati anticipates this initiative will
○ The use of interactive features, such as Interactive Voice Response technology, to help them reach 10,000 women farmers,
make digital tools easier to use by digitally illiterate customers and to deliver and gain valuable insights on women as
customers.
capacity building and advisory to customers (e.g. Opportunity International Uganda)
○ Offering preferential terms to users earning income on the platform (e.g. zero Although this is a grant-funded initiative,
registration fees, referral bonuses) as an incentive to onboard rural women Samunnati have intentionally designed the
customers (e.g. Jumia’s Women & Youth Empowerment Program) initiative so that lessons learned on how
to engage with women-led farmer
○ Providing tailored training and services to increase the income-generating potential producer organizations will be integrated
of WIRAL platform users (e.g. Copia’s asset financing product, see the Appendix) into their commercial business practices.
■ Rural women should be embedded throughout the product and service design process.
Concretely, this means including a representative sample of both men and women Additional details on Samunnati’s initiatives
customers in market research efforts, testing prototypes with women, and collecting are included in the Appendix.
sex-disaggregated feedback.
34
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr

PLATFORM OPPORTUNITY D

INCREASING INCOME-
GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR RURAL WOMEN AS
D
PLATFORM SERVICE
PROVIDERS 35
 Platform Opportunity D
V

INSIGHT
Pervasive barriers are impacting rural women’s ability to
pursue field-based roles offered by digital platforms

The abundance of platform field-based positions provides a unique opportunity for

rural women to integrate into more formalized labor, expand their earning potential, While this opportunity focuses on integrating
rural women into platforms as agents, rural
and pursue a career that works with their household responsibilities and personal
women can also engage with platforms in the
aspirations. following additional ways:

The majority of platforms in our sample rely heavily on a field-based network of ■ An agricultural inputs vendor in a rural town
individuals who serve as a direct link between customers and the platform. Often called signs up on a platform to become a
preferred vendor to platform customers;
‘agents’, this network is most often deployed to provide on-the-ground support for ■ An equipment owner registers with a
platform operations. Agents may collect data, provide advisory services to farmers, platform to provide machinery services to
support farmers in accessing the platform, or facilitate logistics. other farmers, to supplement her income;
■ A smallholder farmer signs up with a
Evidence shows that women tend to be successful field agents. An IFC study of agent platform to be one of their extension
workers, providing extension services to
transactions in the Democratic Republic of Congo found that women were significantly
other platforms users in her community; and
more successful than male agents in terms of volume and value of transactions. ■ A micro-entrepreneur signs up to be a
platform field agent, helping customer place
orders on the platform using her mobile
device.

36
 Platform Opportunity D
V

AMONG THE SAMPLE:

■ All but one of the platforms we spoke to which ■ To combat this, we saw evidence of platforms
rely heavily on a field force struggle to recruit testing ways to increase women’s
and retain women. This is partly related to the representation among agents, understanding
how the roles are structured (often requiring that this will help the platforms tap into groups
heavy lifting, travel in rural areas) and partly of rural women customers that might be
related to systemic issues like women's overlooked by, or invisible to, men agents. For
disproportionate caregiving responsibilities, instance, AFEX is currently recruiting
which makes it harder for women to maintain high-performing women farmers in their
consistent levels of engagement and, ultimately, customer base to become field agents.
derive value from the platform.

37
 Platform Opportunity D
V
RECOMMENDATION

Develop targeted strategies to expand income-generating

opportunities, including field-based roles, for rural women

■ As a first step, platforms should sex-disaggregate their data to establish a baseline.

Across most of the platforms we surveyed, sex-disaggregated data collection on the
field-based force is limited, which means platforms are missing out on important CASE STUDY: Copia’s model relies heavily
insights on performance, transactional volumes, and overall value generated by different on field agents, who interact directly with
customers. Their agent base is
agent segments.
predominantly women– over 80% of the
30,000 agents are women. Historically,
■ With this information, platforms can then design tailored support to enhance the agent-customer interactions were
efficiency and productivity of these different segments, and ultimately enable women to facilitated offline.
derive maximum value from platforms. Of note is that capacity building is key to
Currently, Copia is in the process of
supporting women who earn an income on the platform. Tailored support could digitizing their field force. Given that
include: digitization represents increased barriers
for women, the platform is launching an
○ Providing digital literacy training (e.g. general digital literacy, basic digital safety) innovative PAYGO model to provide mobile
○ Trainings specifically on how to use the platform (e.g. the practicalities of phones to their field force.
managing a shop or profile, getting paid)
○ Value-added financial services (e.g. credit, insurance or savings products) Additional details on Copia’s initiatives are
included in the Appendix.
○ Assets necessary for livelihoods earned on the platform (e.g. phones, vehicles)
○ Access to (peer) support networks within the platform ecosystem.

38
VI.
RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR INVESTORS &
DONORS

39
Photo credit: Huxta from MCF
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
Investors* and donors have a role to play in
supporting digital platforms to become gender
forward
Investors and donors can influence digital platforms’ decision-making as these platforms begin to address gender in their model, and can
help reduce platforms’ challenges to becoming gender forward. Here are the key entry points that investors and donors can consider:

Platform barrier or challenge Investor or donor entry point

Lack of clarity on how gender-forward business practices Undertake data collection and analysis to build the business
(GFBPs) can create shared value for women and platforms case

Lack of expertise on how to develop and implement GFBPs Fund or provide technical assistance and/or learning networks

Lack of capital to design and implement internal and/or Provide investment capital and/or grants
external gender-forward approaches

High perceived cost that dissuades platforms from adjusting Well-designed incentives that align financial rewards with
their business models impact (not just reach) without distorting the market or
sacrificing sustainability of the model

* Investors include private investors, such as private equity, venture capital, and social investors, and public investors, such as development finance institutions.. Donors
includes bilateral and multilateral agencies and foundations. 40
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
Four donor and investor entry points
for supporting digital platforms to become
gender forward
Build the business case for
gender inclusion in digital
DATA &
agriculture platforms ANALYSIS

Share financial risks and

rewards of GFBPs through INVESTMENT &
targeted capital
GRANTS

Reduce barriers to entry by

building platform knowledge and TECHNICAL
capacity to advance GFBPs
ASSISTANCE

Encourage platforms to integrate

GFBPs in their model through
smart financial incentives INCENTIVES

41
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
ENTRY POINT

Data & Analysis

Building the case for how GFBPs contribute to inclusive, sustainable, and commercially viable digital platform models should be a
priority. Currently, there is a lack of clarity on how these practices can create shared value for women and platforms, resulting in
gender-focused initiatives being kept separate from the commercial side of the business. In fact, until gender-forward practices within
digital platforms are measured in terms of both economic and social outcomes, it will be difficult to truly establish how impactful
platforms can be for rural women.

Investors and donors can leverage data and analysis by:

■ Embedding gender-related key performance indicators into grant agreements / investment covenants and regular reporting,
to encourage platforms to more systematically analyze their data with a gender lens

■ Providing resources to support the upgrade of available data systems and processes that enable sex-disaggregated data
collection and analysis

■ Leveraging data to measure the social and financial returns (for women, platforms, and investors) of investing in GFBPs in
platforms

■ Embedding gender into frameworks and tools that are used to describe or assess platform business models (e.g. IDH
Farmfit’s service delivery model assessment for digital platforms)

■ Publishing and disseminating insights to inspire and encourage others

42
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
ENTRY POINT

Investment & Grants

Grant and investment capital can reduce digital platforms’ initial costs and risks in becoming gender forward and fuel the growth and
reach of those digital platforms that are gender forward.

Specifically, donors and investors can:

■ Provide the capital that platforms need to capitalize on market opportunities that can create positive impact for rural women

■ Reduce the initial costs and risks of designing and implementing products and services for a new target customer base (WIRAL)
by funding platforms’ gender-forward research and development and pilots

■ Enable scale-up of proven rural women-focused products and services through larger and more patient investments

■ Fund internal gender-forward initiatives that may have spillover effects into operations, impact, and revenues but do not
immediately produce financial returns

■ Fund broader initiatives that tackle some of the enabling environment barriers faced by women who seek to engage with
platforms as customers, service providers, or employees (e.g. advocacy / policy initiatives to unlock women’s access to land;
investments in targeted programs that encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM)

43
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
ENTRY POINT

Technical Assistance
One of the most common stumbling blocks companies encounter in their efforts to become gender forward is that they aren’t sure where
to start. As they are under pressure to reach scale and demonstrate a viable commercial model, digital platforms operating in the
agricultural sector are often short on both time and resources.

Investors and donors can help platforms advance on their gender lens journey by:

■ Funding or facilitating access to technical assistance for platforms that want to implement GFBPs. This technical assistance
may be on topics such as:
○ The rationale for gender inclusive business models– the social and business case
○ How to conduct market research targeting women
○ What data to collect and disaggregate by sex to understand the market, customers, and impact
○ How to design products and services for women and test that they meet the needs of women

■ Publishing examples and case studies of gender-forward business strategies in digital platforms

■ Facilitating peer-to-peer learning, through learning exchanges, networking events, and communities of practice

■ Connecting digital platforms to other actors working with rural women to gain insights and best practices and to participate in
joint research and advocacy

44
 Recommendations for Investors and Donors
VI
ENTRY POINT

Incentives
Donors and investors can incentivize platforms to collect and understand their sex-disaggregated data by integrating the following gender
data requirements into grantmaking and investment processes:

■ Integrating 2X Challenge-aligned metrics into due diligence, proposal evaluation, and portfolio monitoring tools and processes

■ Requiring potential grantees or investees to complete a gender self-assessment as part of the grant milestones or investment
covenants

Donors and investors can also incentivize gender-forward action through grant and investment structures, including:

■ Concessionary interest rates, contingent on reaching gender targets, that do not distort the market or create unsustainable
expectations

■ Outcome or incentive payments to platforms, after an outcome has been achieved, that address the potential additional costs of
reaching those outcomes

■ Convertible debt– debt investments that become equity or non-repayable if a platform reaches gender targets

■ Other favorable terms and conditions depending on the financing needs and impact potential of the platform

45
 APPENDIX
■ References
■ Research Methodology
■ Case Studies

46
Photo credit: CIMMYT Flickr
 Appendix

References
Foundational sources

Three sources served as a foundation for this research and report.

ISF and RAFLL, Caribou Digital and

AGRICULTURAL IFC, Mastercard
“PLATFORMS” IN Digital2Equal Foundation, Women
A DIGITAL ERA Initiative in the Platform
(2021) Economy (2022)

Additional sources
■ CGAP, Women in Rural and Agricultural Livelihoods Facing COVID-19 (2020)
■ FAO, Closing the Knowledge Gap on Gender in Agriculture (2014)
■ FAO, The Gender Gap in Land Rights (2018)
■ FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development (2010)
■ Financial Alliance for Women, How FinTechs can Profit from the Multi-Trillion Dollar Female Economy (2020)
■ Harvard Business Review, Creating Shared Value (2011)
■ Harvard Business Review, Research: Adding Women to the C-Suite Changes How Companies Think (2021)
■ IFAD, Gender equality and women’s empowerment (2012)
■ IFC, The Partnership for Financial Inclusion (2016)
 Appendix

Research Methodology
Individual case studies

1 2 3 4 5
Live VfW Gender
Executive Sponsor
Self-Assessment Survey Debrief Thematic Deep Dive Help Desk Session
Interview
Survey (see next slide)

CEO, Engagement CEO, other staff

CEO Engagement Leads Engagement Leads
Leads members

■ Understand platform ■ Facilitate working ■ Host subsequent ■ Facilitate qualitative ■ Provide a 1:1 virtual help
strategy, gender session with 2 to 3 working session to research on prioritized desk session to help
approach, and engagement leads reflect on survey results themes platforms improve their
willingness to participate ■ Complete survey during ■ Identify 1 to 2 themes to ■ Perform review of any WIRAL strategy, based
in case study this call interrogate further evidence-oriented on current organizational
■ Identify 2 to 3 platform metrics or materials priorities.
team members to lead
engagement

Cross-case study validation

6 Synthesis

■ Analyze data collected from four additional digital platforms via the VfW Gender Self-Assessment Survey
■ Across case studies, unpack themes and garner actionable insights on how platform providers can improve their WIRAL strategy
 Appendix

VfW Gender Self-Assessment Survey

The Gender Smart Nexus is VfW’s holistic platform for gender

assessments, benchmarking, and decision-making. It is a digital platform
that helps enterprises, investors, and business support organizations
assess, take action, and make business and investment decisions that
take gender into account.

The platform hosts a number of functions and tools: a Gender Lens Survey
for Enterprises, a Gender Lens Investing Survey for investors, aggregated
Gender Lens Portfolio Analysis, and an Employee Satisfaction and
Organizational Culture Survey, among others.

These various tools aim to offer pathways for businesses and investors to
move from inspiration to action quickly and more efficiently— going
beyond assessments of current performance into targeted
recommendations for future actions. For the purposes of this project,
Value for Women made platform-specific adaptations to the Gender
Lens Survey for Enterprises.
 Appendix

CASE STUDY 1:
How a digital platform in Nigeria is starting to walk
the talk on gender

AFEX is a large, and rapidly growing, integrated product and services marketplace based in Nigeria. As an AgTech operating in the Nigerian market,
AFEX must contend with challenging and persistent gender norms that negatively impact women’s participation in agriculture. According to the
Council on Foreign Relations, women are responsible for 70 to 80% of agricultural labor in Nigeria, but they represent less than 15% of land owners.
Furthermore, broad socio-cultural barriers, including reliance on customary law (as opposed to formal state law), lack of women’s education, and
disproportionate early marriages for women, further exacerbate these issues.

These restrictive norms directly impact AFEX’s work with women in rural and agricultural livelihoods (WIRAL)– both internal to the company and
external in customer acquisition and retention. Internally, achieving gender balance in field based positions is a challenge– only 25% of sales
agents and less than 20% of part-time staff are women. This discrepancy is especially prominent in positions, such as warehouse managers, that
require employees to work alone in rural areas, perform tasks that might be more physically intensive (e.g., lifting heavy objects), and act as an
authoritative figure when determining the quality and quantity of offtake from customers. Externally, land ownership acts as a barrier for reaching
women customers and prevents existing women customers from fully benefiting from the range of services available on the platform. Under
Nigeria’s customary law, men inherit land. Furthermore, many women lease land as opposed to owning land. This directly impacts the size of the
package these women farmers receive from AFEX.
 Appendix

Historically, AFEX pursued an expansion strategy focused on broadening their smallholder farmer customer base, without defining gender-related
targets. As AFEX entered their scaling phase, and saw that only 20% of end users were women, they became more deliberate about gender.

Subsequently, AFEX has become more intentional about piloting and launching initiatives to improve engagement of WIRAL, through the following:

■ Launching a program to acquire more women customers: In recent months, AFEX launched a program where top women farmers are
offered positions as AFEX extension agents. These women extension agents can capitalize on their networks to recruit more women farmers
to participate on the platform. Furthermore, this improves AFEX’s gender diversity in field-based positions.
■ Creating a structured feedback loop with customers: To better capture customer insights, especially from women customers, AFEX is
regularly collecting customer data through i) holding customer feedback groups on a regional basis and ii) leveraging extension workers to
collect insights from women customers.
■ Implementing targeted actions to recruit more women: Talent management has reviewed and is diversifying their scoring metrics to recruit
more women.

Given that many of these initiatives were recently launched or are in pilot phase, it’s too early to report on their results. AFEX also recognizes that
while these initiatives are a good starting point, there is still much work to be done in terms of embedding a gender lens across the business.

AFEX’s experience highlights the importance of the WIRAL segment for business scaling. Furthermore, AFEX’s efforts demonstrate that there are
some tangible actions platforms can take to address “low-hanging fruit” for moving toward greater gender balance within the company and
customer base.
 Appendix

CASE STUDY 2:
How a Nigerian platform leverages gender insights to
inform its value proposition

CoAmana is a small, and growing, integrated product and services marketplace in Nigeria. Achieving social impact has been a part of the
company’s philosophy since day one, noting that the gender lens was built in from the start. This gender lens has enabled CoAmana to attract
funding with an explicit focus on gender, thereby helping them capture a strong women customer base – over 76% of farmers on the platform are
women. Despite their women-led customer base, the platform faces particular challenges when engaging women farmers. Their data shows that
rural women require additional support to access CoAmana’s services, largely due to restrictive gender norms and lower levels of digital literacy,
which impacts the costs to acquire and serve this customer segment.

In this context, CoAmana is taking a proactive approach to addressing these issues by leveraging insights generated by the data they collect on
customers. CoAmana uses a variety of methods to capture data, including collecting sex-disaggregated data at the registration stage,
sex-disaggregating retention rates, and documenting feedback from calls coming into the call center set up for women. This proactive approach to
data collection and analysis has allowed CoAmana to segment their customer base according to patterns of usage and behaviour.

Thanks to this data, CoAmana has been able to quantify the current difference in cost to acquire women versus men customers. This difference is
particularly striking for older women, over the age of 50: it currently costs CoAmana 4x the amount to onboard women as it does their men
counterparts. This increased cost is likely due to a number of underlying factors. First, women tend to care more about establishing trust with
platform providers before registering for a new product or service, thus requiring more time and effort from the part of CoAmana to engage these
women. Second, women tend to be hesitant of using a new technology if they have not first seen men in the community using it, which means that
CoAmana must be deliberate in its approach to ensure uptake of new products and services by women.
 Appendix

CoAmana uses these data-driven insights to inform strategic initiatives, product design, and marketing strategies, allowing them to consistently
improve their efforts to engage women customers. This has resulted in initiatives such as:

■ All-women call center: upon recognizing that women customers needed more dedicated support to get familiar with the platform and
understand how to make use of it, CoAmana decided to establish a call center, staffed entirely by women, to provide their customers with a
dedicated support team.
■ Phased technology introduction: In the coming months, CoAmana plans to launch an equipment financing offering for a solar irrigation
pump, with hopes of offering more climate-friendly farming equipment in the near future. Since these pumps are a relatively new technology,
CoAmana is planning a phased launch. Prior to targeting women, they will introduce pumps in communities, so women can first observe
men using them. As part of this solution and commitment to climate-friendly initiatives, CoAmana is also offering bundles of climate resilient
farming inputs such as drought resistant seeds, EU approved fertilizers, and other agrochemicals.
■ Targeted outreach to women: CoAmana actively leverages the radio to market to women and youth in Nigeria, and are also going out to
communities to reach women where they are.

CoAmana presents a strong example of how sex-disaggregating customer data can help digital platforms generate the types of insights they need to
respond to the specific needs and preferences of WIRAL customers. As CoAmana moves into the venture stage, these data driven insights will be
crucial to drive improved commercial and gender outcomes to meet the needs and expectations of their investors.
 Appendix

CASE STUDY 3:
How an African platform is working to digitize their
field force using innovative financing products

Copia is an integrated product and services marketplace operating in Kenya and Uganda. While Copia does not have an explicit gender strategy,
engaging women is core to its business model. Copia capitalises on market dynamics in rural settings - where women tend to be responsible for
household purchases, and are also highly represented in the micro-enterprise segment. Copia’s model leverages a 40,000 person agent network
made up of individuals operating their own business, which serves as the interface between customers and Copia. Copia is making a positive
gender impact through this network, in which 81% of agents are women.

In terms of Copia’s business model, customers place their orders directly through an agent. The agent then orders through Copia, and Copia delivers
the goods to the agent who then delivers them to the customer. Copia’s agents are largely small scale traders in rural communities. By working with
existing businesses in rural communities, Copia is able to extend its goods and services to the last mile. Copia has achieved significant impact
and scale with this model - agents see an average of between 35% and 40% incremental income as a result of their business with Copia.

Currently, the majority of Copia’s agents and customers use feature phones. As part of its strategic vision, Copia seeks to digitize its ecosystem of
agents and customers, empowering them to interact with and have better visibility in all of Copia's offerings via the smartphone-enabled Copia
App. Copia recognises that digitisation presents significant barriers to women, who make up most of their agent base. Barriers include:

■ Lack of digital literacy;

■ Limited access to information and digital tools;
■ High cost of accessing smartphones.
 Appendix

In this context, Copia has launched an innovative pilot on a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) model to enable agents and customers to access and
ultimately own a smartphone. The pilot started in August 2022 and in the first four months Copia financed 100+ devices for agents, 63% of whom
are women.

Through the PAYGO program, Copia provides credit for the mobile smartphones for a maximum term of nine months. However, based on the
user’s repayment capacity this term can be reduced to three or six months. To combat digital literacy gaps, Copia’s field-based sales associates
conduct in-person onboarding for smartphone users. The onboarding process aims to strengthen digital literacy by 1) showing users how to use the
Copia app and 2) providing pertinent information about the program including repayment and penalties charged as a result of defaults.

Once a user is activated, they pay monthly installments via the PAYGO app. While delayed payments are rare, Copia charges penalties and also has
the ability to remotely lock specific features of the phone to incentivize payments. Given this, Copia has been able to resolve these cases quickly
and effectively.

While the program is still at an early stage, Copia has found that the PAYGO model has led to better engagement of women agents. Copia is
actively collecting detailed feedback from agents who are part of the program, which has enabled them to make program improvements.
Furthermore, agents equipped with smartphones are able to obtain access to deeper analytics on customer usage and trends via the Copia App.
Given the positive impact of the program, Copia is aiming to expand the PAYGO model and issue 2,000 smartphones by March 2023.
 Appendix

CASE STUDY 4:
How an Indian platform is helping farmer producer
organizations overcome gender barriers

Samunnati is a large Indian AgTech that engages over 2,500 farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and collectively reaches over 4 million farmers,
making it the largest AgTech of its kind in the Indian market.

Women form a big chunk of the agricultural workforce in India, and it is estimated that they perform 70% of work on the farm. However, women’s
access to liquidity and other institutional support has historically been limited when compared to that of men. In India, women face numerous
gender-related constraints including lack of land ownership and lower levels of digital and financial literacy.

In this context, Samunnati is working to build their women customer base through increasing women’s access to Samunnati’s products and
services. For instance, to combat widespread land ownership challenges that women face, Samunnati encouraged the FPOs with which they work to
shift membership criteria. The original criteria required members to possess an active land title, but Samunnati encouraged FPOs to adapt this to
allow women farmers to apply for membership so long as they had land in the family name.

Another, major, initiative Samunnati is currently undertaking is to support the establishment of women-led FPOs, which can help promote collective
action. Collective action approaches enable women to circumvent individual constraints and access opportunities that would otherwise be out of
their reach; when women are collectivized, they are more likely to gain access to productive assets and formal services, and serving them as a group
can increase the economic viability of the service.
 Appendix

For example, each of the women-led FPOs will have a designated Samunnati relationship manager who will provide members with advisory,
technical assistance, and digitization support. Taking gender constraints into consideration, as part of this new initiative Samunnati is also:

1) Piloting financial literacy training for the all-women FPOs;

2) Defining metrics for all-women FPOs to demonstrate impact; and
3) Drafting strategies for the all-women FPOs to achieve financial viability within three years.

Samunnati received patient capital to support the establishment and onboarding of 100 women FPOs across four states. Samunnati anticipates this
initiative will reach 10,000 women farmers. Additionally, through this initiative, Samunnati expects to glean insights about women farmers, a
historically underserved customer base, with the ultimate objective of incorporating these lessons learned into their core business model.

As a recognizable brand in the Indian market, Samunnati’s efforts to enable women farmers through women-led FPOs will go a long way to
demonstrate to others that women in rural agricultural livelihoods represent a commercially viable customer segment.