Sauti East Africa is a women-led social enterprise based in Kenya that deploys market and trade information to women cross border traders in “low-technology” environments across East Africa. Sauti's USSD, SMS, and WhatsApp platforms are available in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania

Sauti’s last-mile market and trade platform innovation strengthens the market linkages between family farmers and value-adding processors. Our innovation leverages the competitive advantages of mobile technology to deliver tailored market linkage information services to farmers at scale and at a lower end-user cost compared to traditional avenues. We deploy a mobile-based information platform, accessible on any type of phone by SMS and USSD, through which farmers and traders can access local, up-to-date, and verified information about regional processors and marketplaces in their locality. This innovation gives informal MSMEs improved access to market information along more sophisticated and profitable value-chains that are already established in their locality. Our information platform provides direct benefits by reducing the costs to access market linkage information compared to traditional methods, which are exceptionally high for women farmers who must often consider domestic duties against time spent investing in their farming activities. Additionally, we suggest that with better access to local market information, family farmers can improve their crop planning, coordination within cooperatives, and negotiating power with brokers and at the marketplace to increase their incomes and profits. This innovation represents a scaleable, locally-focused, and gender-sensitive intervention in family farmer-processor value-chains. By reducing information barriers preventing small-scale farmers - predominantly women - from integrating into more profitable value-chains, Sauti’s innovation circumvents traditional barriers and increases the opportunities for women in rural East Africa to pursue economic equity, autonomy, and empowerment.