Photo: Sales Manager Philip Labre supervising the packaging of rice at Turiani, Morogoro region, Tanzania.
 
When we think of supply chain management, we tend to imagine a one-way street, where the supplies go from the producer through a middle-man to a consumer.
 
At SOLARKIOSK we have started to build on our outstanding distribution network to the last mile ‚Äì to make the most out of it, since the “common” way may not always work in every situation or company.
 
After some research, we decided to reverse our supply chain. Now, our trucks do not only take products to the rural off-grid villages in which we work, but also bring farm products back to the urban centers. This way smallholder farmers benefit from better margins and SOLARKIOSK can offer their high-quality rice and beans to other communities via its more than 40 E-HUBBs and to other wholesale buyers in Dar es Salaam.
 
SOLARKIOSK Tanzania Sales Manager, Philip Labre states, In our regular market studies, farmers had expressed that the middlemen dictated the prices for their products and that they would be happy if they could find alternative ways to market.”
 
The set-up we then developed is a clear win-win situation for all of us: Better prices for the farmers and great products for SOLARKIOSK and our network. At the same time, we optimize our use of transport vehicles – a responsibility towards the environment.