One algorithm. Five years of proprietary data and a closed-loop AI engine recalibrating prices, allocation, and inventory across every node, every day.
FarmWorks is the operating system that connects smallholder farmers to formal and informal markets, through an intelligent branch network, running on five years of proprietary data and a closed-loop AI decision engine. We are the largest aggregator and distributor of fresh produce in Kenya today.
Proprietary AI engines for pricing, allocation, demand forecasting, and discounting. Recalibrating daily across every node.
45 smart branches and growing, optimized logistics, and a central packhouse. The physical infrastructure the algorithm runs on.
Five years of farmer, yield, market and customer data. Our intelligence asset that compounds to help us scale efficiently.
Reliable income for farmers. Consistent quality supply to the market. A relationship informal brokers cannot replicate.
These are the engines doing the work that 99% of African agriculture still does manually. Every day, touching every farmer, and across every branch.
Five years of transaction history predicts next-day demand per crop per branch. Feeds the allocation engine and farm-gate buying.
Sets daily prices for every SKU across all 45 branches. Inputs: buying price, demand signals, inventory age, target margin. No salesperson discretion.
Distributes packhouse inventory across branches daily based on live stock levels, expected next-day sales, and total supply available.
Rule-based discounting on order size, customer type, competitor pricing, and overstock conditions. Replaces negotiation with policy.
The moat is not the code.
The moat is the data the code runs on.
Sales, prices, stock levels, customer behaviour, all logged at the SKU level across 45 nodes.
Farmer supply, branch sales, live inventory. All piped into the central decision layer in near real-time.
Pricing, allocation, and discount engines run nightly. The next day's plan is generated before sunrise.
Daily prices per SKU, stock allocations branch-by-branch, discount rules by customer. All pushed to every node.
The loop runs again. Every day. Across 45 branches. Margin compounds with scale.
Let there be income first. Let there be economics first. Then, and only then, will there be real, lasting climate impact.Yi Li · Co-founder & CEO · TED Countdown, 2025
“I am comfortable knowing that I have somewhere to sell my produce, so I focus more on farming. There is no greater joy to a farmer than that.”
FEMALE FARMER, 60 · 60 DECIBELS SURVEY“Before, I had to leave very early and travel far to buy stock, and it would take up a big part of my day. Now I can get everything close to my stall. It saves me time, and I can focus on selling instead of running around.”
FEMALE CUSTOMER, 32“With more money made from my crops, I can now invest in better fertilizers and better protect my soil health.”
MALE FARMER, 42 · 60dB“The quality is consistent. I don't have to worry if today's produce will be worse than yesterday. And if there's ever an issue, I can just tell your team and it gets sorted. That gives me peace of mind when I'm doing business.”
FEMALE CUSTOMER, 38“I have enough food to feed my family. This has helped to reduce the cost of buying food in the market.”
FEMALE FARMER, 48 · 60dB
The same conviction we apply to farmers, applied to children. Build capacity, not charity. A one-time grant of $1,500 to $3,000 funds a school kitchen, equipment, and cook training. After that, parents pay about $1 per child per week for five hot, locally-sourced meals.
Malaika operates independently, connecting schools to local maize, beans, rice, and vegetable suppliers, extending the same logic that runs FarmWorks. Local supply, local agency, financial sustainability over donor dependency.
From the TED Countdown stage to the case studies that shape how the field thinks about catalytic capital, women-led African logistics, and income-driven climate impact.
Yi Li's TED Countdown talk on income-driven climate change. The case for putting income before behaviour change, built on five years of fieldwork in Kenya and the data behind FarmWorks.
Watch on TED.com →FarmWorks featured in DOB Equity's portfolio spotlight on women founders building tech-enabled logistics infrastructure across East Africa.
Read the feature →SSIR's primer on catalytic capital, the patient and risk-tolerant funding that makes models like FarmWorks possible, and why it matters for the next generation of impact-aligned businesses.
Read the article →