Software development company Synthesis, which developed an e-Accounts portal for Unigro Financial Services in 2014, has improved the service to include further agri-related functions to enable farmers to administer and manage their entire farming operations online.
Local fintech firm Synthesis provides software development, consulting and integration services to financial institutions, including Investec, Absa, Standard Bank, Capitec and Stanlib.
Unigro is the financial services division of agricultural services company Afgri. The two teamed up three years ago to develop the portal and have now enhanced it to include features such as payment scheduling, viewing and authorisation of foreign exchange transactions as well as payroll capabilities.
"The portal evolved from a relatively simple transaction portal into a sophisticated digital channel that is changing our customers' manner of doing business," says Tinus Prinsloo, CEO of Afgri Agri Services.
Prinsloo says features are added to the platform on demand, with the most recent addition being the grain management tool that allows farmers to monitor everything from tonnage, date of delivery and rand per ton, through to the processing of loans and payment.
"Later this year, farmers will have access to e-Credit, where they can apply for new lending facilities through e-Accounts. Within five years, we want to create a 'bartering' system so that will ease farmer's financial management functions,' he explains.
Johann Barnard, COO of at Unigro Financial Services and e-Accounts project owner, added: "The platform lets farmers manage their entire business, finance and planning on one platform. It allows transactions like loans, forex and payments, to grain trading and equipment purchases securely from a variety of devices. In addition, farmers get end-to-end transaction capability at lower rates than those charged by banks."
To date, e-Accounts records an estimated 1 000 active users, with more than 30 000 logins since the first project went live. "The largest single payment so far was more than R60 million. We're seeing a dramatic upward trend," says Barnard. "Within the first 12 months, R1,2 billion in payments went through the system. During the second year, this value has tripled, shooting up to more than R4 billion."
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