Abrar Bajwa - Revolutionizing the Agricultural Supply Chain in Pakistan (Tazah)

Not From Silicon Valley

Let's start with some pretty staggering statistics:

• About 22-25% of Pakistan’s GDP comes from agriculture. That makes it - depending on how you measure it - an industry worth between $60 and $100 BILLION.

• 40-45% of Pakistan’s eligible workforce works in the agriculture industry…from farming, to trading, to transportation & logistics. That’s nearly 30 million people.

So, with agriculture making up such an important part of Pakistan’s economy and even social fabric, surely you’d think groceries would be easily accessible and affordable in Pakistan…right?

Well…wrong.

The farm to table supply chain in Pakistan is SO inefficient and SO inequitable that:

• Only 60% of agricultural products actually reach it to a grocery store from the farm. The other 40%? It goes wasted...expired...perished.

• The price has gone up 4 times…yep 4 times (!) between being harvested at a farm and being sold to you when rung up at the cash register.

• And...the price of groceries in Pakistan is SO disproportionately high relative to Pakistanis' earnings that Pakistanis spend...get this: 30% of their disposable income on food items. 30%!

And perhaps most shocking?

Despite how much of Pakistan is built on agriculture…it remains, to this day a net IMPORTER of agricultural products.

Crazy, huh?

Well, now, fortunately...someone's doing something about this massively inefficient and inequitable supply chain.

Meet Tazah: a technology platform that connects wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants DIRECTLY with farmers.

That is, instead of a mango having to go from farm...to trader...to commission agent...to wholesaler...to retailer...to YOU, it can go straight from farmer to retailer.

In turn? Farmers can operative profitably...retailers can be more competitive...and Pakistani grocery shoppers can save their hard earned money.

And Tazah - albeit new to Pakistan - is making headlines...like having the biggest pre-seed raise in Pakistan's history...and reaching a nearly $1 million GMV fewer than six months after launching.

Abrar Bajwa and his colleagues at Tazah? Oh man...they're on to something. Something big...