Taft Group signs MoU with Ghana Commodity Exchange

Taft Group of companies, led by Taft Capital, on Monday 20 May 2019 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) in a bid to transform Ghana’s Agriculture sector.

The agreement seeks to provide the exchange with innovative solutions through ICT, access to markets, Warehousing, Logistics, and Funding.

The MoU sees the two organisations collaborating to enhance the performance of the commodity value chain in Ghana, with Taft -- a key player in the Agribusiness sector -- committing to provide GCX with the necessary tools to develop the West African country’s Agribusiness sector.

With the agreement, Taft, which brings to the table, Movelle (a commodity trading company), MRL (a logistics and commercial real estate company), AgNexus (a Fintech and Agtech company) and Agridemy (an innovative capacity building organisation), will assist GCX raise funds, including patient capital and grants.

The raft of services Taft will provide through its affiliates for various GCX projects and activities include the provision of logistical solutions for the management of products from farm gate to GCX delivery centres and warehouses to complement the Exchange’s work in providing this much needed access to secured storage.

Taft supports GCX’s efforts to transform Ghana and African agriculture by increasing the bargaining power of smallholder farmers.

Taft has committed to deploy an IT platform, which includes a feature that connects farmers to financing facilities and provides them with lending credit.

This will be done by using AgNexus proprietary software, which collects data from farmers and co-operatives. Taft will also assign a credit rating to individual farmers that allows them to attain commercial capital without needing to sell their product at lower prices during the early post-harvest phase.

In line with GCX’s aim to increase farmers’ bargaining power and share of created value, while ensuring integrity and transparency of trade, the MoU will see the two parties come together to promote transparency and the increased penetration of credit and agricultural finance to enable the Ghana Commodity Exchange and Taft reach shared objectives.