AgUnity Case Study: Accelerating AgTech Australia’s opportunity in Vietnam
19 October 2021: Launched in 2016, AgUnity’s mission is to enhance financial inclusion for those living in rural and remote communities worldwide.
AgUnity has built a blockchain based app that allows farmers to record their work, perform farm-focused transactions, cooperate with other farmers and take their crop to market. The AgUnity app offers a suite of digital solutions that provides a means to reach remote users, establish reliable and efficient lines of trade and create transparency in food chains.
Leveraging bilateral business support programs
AgUnity first entered Vietnam through the Mekong AgTech Challenge (MATCh), an initiative of the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) sponsored by Australian Aid. AgUnity embarked on a highly-curated immersion market entry program, engaging with key industry stakeholders including government representatives, universities, and local producers. The company proved to be a standout, named as the ‘winner’ of the challenge amongst 10 participants from across the globe.
“We knew there was massive potential for AgTech/FinTech in Vietnam, and our MATCh experience provided a direct pathway.” - Angus Keck, COO AgUnity
In particular, the program unlocked cultural learnings that proved critical to improving the product development process. Deep engagement revealed that direct feedback is relatively uncommon in Vietnamese business culture. AgUnity shifted tack, learning to intensify their presence and thoughtfulness in the questions they asked, rather than procure feedback directly.
“I was able to be interviewed on Vietnamese national television through MATCh, this was the kind of exposure you only dream of in a new country.” - David Davies, CEO AgUnity
Designing a product and team with Vietnam in mind
Based on this immersion program, AgUnity learned that the needs of smallholder farmers were varied, requiring a highly customisable solution. The AgUnity app is designed as a super-app, with the ability to push out easily customisable applets. AgUnity prioritised making the app easy to use, even for people with a low level of literacy, through keeping the interface simple, using geometric shapes and primary colours, and completing processes in a step-by-step fashion.
As part of AgUnity’s product offering, they provide both the infrastructure, a low-cost smartphone, and the software, an app. This enabled AgUnity to overcome one of the initial barriers to entry for their technology, which was the producers’ lack of access to smartphones.
Angus Keck, AgUnity COO, shared that the AgUnity team have also been busy developing onboarding materials and guidelines for establishing and supporting remote teams. Setting up localised teams enabled AgUnity to invest in the local industry as well as overcome translation barriers.
“There was an incredible amount of enthusiasm for the technology we had built by Vietnamese farmers we met as part of MATCh. Without this exposure, we would not have been approached to start operations in the country.” - Angus Keck, COO AgUnity
Partnering for success
To continue work in the region, AgUnity has partnered with Action On Poverty to deploy AgUnity technology for the Da River Fisheries Association. As Action On Poverty is well established in Vietnam, AgUnity has been able to leverage their connections to local government and understanding of local regulations, as well as their relationship with a farmers’ cooperative in an industry AgUnity was previously not exposed to in Vietnam.
“The opportunity to travel Vietnam meeting agribusinesses, local government, and industry organisations gave us an insight into business in Vietnam that we would never have otherwise known. This insight eventually led to us securing our first contract to deliver services in the Vietnamese fisheries industry.” - David Davies, CEO AgUnity
Connecting Consumers In July 2021, AgUnity helped launch AgriUT, a digital utility token that can be purchased by trading companies and retailers, to sell to customers who purchase their products such as coffee. Customers can scan foodsafe QR-code tags on the products they purchase and link these rewards back to the farmers.1 This also enables global commodity traders to pay farmers in AgriUT in locations that utilise difficult to disperse fiat cash.
To find out more, download the report Accelerating AgTech: Australia’s Opportunity in Vietnam, developed by Asialink Business and Beanstalk. The report outlines a roadmap of practical steps to help position Australian AgTech businesses for shared success in Vietnam.
1. AgUnity, ‘AgriUT A digital utility token to reward smallholder farmers’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA-ZjgviKcE