How agriBORA’s Founder Achieved Clarity in his Strategy with Metavolve

1. Market Positioning

We started by pinpointing agriBORA’s position within the agricultural sector, identifying key market segments where their impact and value could be maximised. This phase involved:

• Deep Market Segmentation: We zoomed in on the specific needs within the agricultural market. For agriBORA, it meant honing in on mid-sized off-takers and agri-merchants. These segments are crucial as they require consistent, high-quality supply, and agriBORA’s platform could deliver exactly that—connecting the dots in Kenya’s agricultural ecosystem.
• Identifying Core Customers: agriBORA’s strategy evolved to serve two main customer groups with precision:
  • medium-sized off-takers who needed a reliable source of local produce
  • small to medium agri-merchants who sought quality inputs and better market access.
Our strategy positioned agriBORA as the go-to partner for both – addressing their distinct needs with tailored solutions. This focus helped streamline agriBORA’s offerings to meet the specific needs and challenges of this segment, enhancing value delivery.
• Crafting Value Propositions: With a clear understanding of the target market and core customers, we refined agriBORA’s value proposition for each segment. For off-takers, agriBORA became a source of quality-assured, aggregated produce from smallholder farmers, helping them meet their supply needs consistently. For agri-merchants, agriBORA offered a single contact point for supply, finance, and after-sales support, enabling them to supply a broader range of products at better margins.

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2. Competitive Analysis

Our competitive analysis for agriBORA wasn’t just about sizing up direct competitors. Instead, we used Porter’s Five Forces as a lens to view the entire agricultural market through the eyes of customers and agriBORA’s capabilities.

• Industry Rivalry: We looked at competitors not as mere rivals but as benchmarks for understanding customer expectations and satisfaction. This helped pinpoint where agriBORA could excel and differentiate.
• Threat of New Entrants: By assessing the ease of new players entering the market, we identified unique value propositions that agriBORA could offer, making their position more solid and attractive to customers.
• Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Understanding the supplier landscape guided agriBORA to create partnerships that could provide customers with unmatched quality and reliability.
• Bargaining Power of Buyers: We delved into what drives buyer decisions, enabling agriBORA to tailor their services and communication strategies to address these factors directly.
• Threat of Substitutes: Knowing the alternatives available to customers allowed us to strategize ways agriBORA could outperform these options, not just in service but in overall customer experience.

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3. Cascading Vision into Goals and Quarterly Priorities

The final cornerstone of our approach with agriBORA was translating their broad vision into actionable goals and quarterly priorities. This phase involved:

• Breaking Down the Vision into Themes: We dissected agriBORA’s overarching vision – to turn Africa into a global agricultural powerhouse – into specific, thematic areas, each representing a cornerstone of their strategy.
• Setting Long-Term Goals: For each theme, we established long-term goals that aligned with agriBORA’s vision, ensuring they were comprehensive yet flexible to adapt to changing market dynamics.
• Developing Objectives: From these goals, we derived clear objectives, setting a pathway for what needed to be accomplished to achieve each goal.
• Defining Quarterly Priorities: Finally, we translated these objectives into quarterly priorities, allowing agriBORA to focus on immediate actions that contribute to their long-term strategic goals.

1. Newfound Strategic Clarity

Following our strategic sessions, agriBORA emerged with a crystal-clear strategy. Kizito experienced a pivotal shift—from grappling with the complexities of a growing business to achieving a lucid understanding of the path forward. The strategy development process distilled his bold vision to “turn Africa into a global agricultural powerhouse” into actionable segments, moving from a broad directive to a series of attainable steps. This strategic clarity now serves as agriBORA’s guiding star, informing decision-making and prioritising initiatives that align with their mission to become the powerhouse of African agriculture.

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2. Increased Confidence

The strategic clarity achieved by agriBORA is having a cascading effect on the stakeholders. Kizito’s vision, now meticulously outlined, gives him the confidence to communicate it with conviction to his investors and team members. The well-defined strategy and execution plan alleviate uncertainties in agriBORA’s focus and future path, making it easier for everyone to join in a shared, optimistic journey towards transforming the agricultural landscape.

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