America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

RAYMOND RUGEMALIRA, entrepreneur:

Raymond Rugemalira, who hopes to pursue a business venture in Kenya, visits his home village Rubya in Tanzania.

Buyers are not interested in purchasing small quantities from farmers who are dispersed among different villages. But during my trips to Kenya, I saw an unrealized trade potential of crops, quality produce and livestock from small plots.

We have developed a sophisticated text messaging system for matching small farmers with potential buyers and transporters. Our software will aggregate small batches from a number of sellers and determine the best sellers-to-buyer match by product, quantity, price, location, and availability dates. Then it will inform the farmers and the buyer about a possible transaction, which can be completed through an existing mobile-phone wallet system.

Registered farmers will form virtual cooperatives according to geographic locations. Revenue for E&M Capital Tek, which manages Uza-Mazao, will be generated from commissions and a small percentage of sales.

Because the idea is so novel, we put much effort in persuading farmers and buyers about its value. As we proceed, we are finding out how difficult it is for entrepreneurs from the African Diaspora, who come with good ideas but without big money, to be taken seriously in an African country. Our Kenyan partner – James Mwangi, who runs a food-supply-service company – helps us establish a presence in the country. But dealing effectively with numerous parties there remains a challenge.

BARRY MOLTZ, expert:

A farmers' market in Kenya.

The entrepreneur should focus on 1. Finding buyers to participate in his marketplace. 2. Testing a small group of transactions to see what issues happen as the marketplace becomes active.

IMRAN QIDWAI, expert:

It is good to see you share your challenges after describing the interesting business idea. Some of the feedback would depend on Uza-Mazao’s business model which is not included in the above description. One obvious challenge in developing a marketplace is that it will only be successful with a significant participation: I.e. more buyers and sellers will help set fair market prices.

Trust is always an issue when promoting a new business, and it is especially a challenge for someone from the outside entering a closed circle in an under-developed region. A simple parallel is that, even in Western markets, we talk of trusted brands and are willing to pay a premium for those brands. A way to success is to identify a few people who already are trusted in the local environment and to focus on gaining their support. Depending on your business model, you may want to offer these people direct compensation or results-based incentives to work with you.

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes how a maven — in this case an entrepreneur with a business idea — may achieve success by collaborating with “connectors,” people who know “everyone.” Given the wide network of people by whom they are trusted, connectors can easily convince the target population about the maven’s ideas.