AGORA is an invoice discounting platform that brings African Suppliers, global Buyers, and institutional Investors under one roof
Overview
AGORA is a UK-based electronic platform, facilitating controlled trade & finance between vetted African Suppliers and global Buyers of agricultural produce.
Food supply chains are more critical than ever in a globalised world, and AGORA aims to ensure consistency and security of supply chains through smart technology and automated financing solutions.
AGORA’s online platform’s primary function is to provide invoice financing solutions that accelerate the movement of cash down the value chain to give Suppliers access to much-needed working capital
Although the current focus is on the agricultural and horticultural exports sector, AGORA plans to expand rapidly into other value chains in the near future.
AGORA (Ancient Greek)
Noun ~ [ag-ōr-a]
Our Technology and Platform
AGORA is an invoice discounting platform, that brings approved Suppliers, Buyers & Investors under one roof.
AGORA utilises APIs and key principles of blockchain such as immutability of data, audit trail of events, programmatic trust and decentralisation to ensure all key stakeholders are under one roof via an online platform.
Invoices & purchase orders are treated as first class assets and are digitally tracked throughout their lifecycle.
Agora uses smart contracts to help add programmatic trust and digital automation. Key stakeholders therefore have full control over their data and all activities are updated real-time to relevant participants.
Our on-boarding system is simple, quick and robust : all platform members / users must meet our pre-qualifying criteria, including KYC and DD checks. This vetting process, along with the platform’s strict business process logic is designed to create an exclusive, secure and trusted online platform for enterprises with a strong track record of success.
FINANCE: AGORA provides funding solutions to Suppliers by discounting their receivables, leveraging the strongest credits in a supply chain to lower the cost of borrowing.
CASH FLOW: Once you and and your Buyer are on-boarded, you can request up to 80% of your invoice value on a fast and flexible basis.
TRUST: AGORA plays the critical role of ‘trust agent’ within the value chain, and particularly so to Suppliers, by guaranteeing payments via Agora’s Invoice Discounting product.
GROW WITH YOU: AGORA’s supply chain finance solutions helps Suppliers to grow their business and take control of their own value chain.
AGORA for Suppliers
If you are an African Supplier to the UK, Europe, US, or the Middle East, we can help you release cash tied up in invoices from approved buyers.
Apply here for Invoice discounting solutions
AGORA FOR BUYERS
If you are a Buyer from African suppliers, we want to hear from you. Once onboarded on our platform we can help improve your payment terms and thereby lock in better prices, as well as give you access to high quality, vetted exporters across the continent.
ROBUST SUPPLY CHAIN: AGORA benefits Buyers by facilitating timely supplier payment demands, and easing supplier cash flows. This helps trusted suppliers to grow and flourish, making them less susceptible to potential shocks.
IMPROVED PRICING : Improved payment terms through AGORA’s financing solutions enable Buyers to attract better prices from their Suppliers, and improve margins.
ACCESS: Buyers have access to vetted suppliers via the AGORA platform.
AUTOMATION: AGORA provides Buyers with the option of streamlining and automating some of their internal trade and payment operations with their suppliers. Buyers can login to a unique secure interface for invoice authentication, management and reporting. Alternatively we offer straight-through-processing and automation via a secure API to Buyer’s ERP systems.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: AGORA gives Buyers the opportunity to accelerate payments to Suppliers in Emerging Markets, with traceability and financial impact reporting right down through the supply chain to show demonstrable impact to some of the world’s poorest communities.
FOCUSED & STRUCTURED LENDING: AGORA focuses on value chains that are historically inefficient, fragmented, and systemically overlooked. By using smart technology and robust processes AGORA distils these chaotic value chains into short-term, high-return, risk-adjusted structured lending opportunities.
HIGH VELOCITY & LOW DEFAULT RATE: AGORA provides investors with a fixed income return from a non-correlated, self-liquidating asset class (average tenor 45 days), by discounting the confirmed receivables due to vetted African suppliers from approved buyers in developed markets.
RISK MITIGATION: Managing risk is at the heart of AGORA’s value proposition. Our platform ecosystem uses automation, smart contracting, and strict credit policies to mitigate repayment, fraud, and performance risk.
SOCIAL IMPACT: AGORA provides Suppliers in Emerging Markets with access to competitive, efficient working capital financing, helping them grow. We ensure cash can flow quickly and seamlessly to Suppliers, who are typically SMEs employing or providing market access to some of the world’s poorest communities.
EXPERIENCED TEAM: Our senior management team comprises over 75 years of collective experience across structured credit, capital markets, fintech, and risk management.
AGORA for Investors
Please contact us for more information on the investor solutions we can offer:
Contact Agora
Level 2, Alexander House
Silicon Avenue
Cybercity Ebene 72201
Mauritius
