Overview business plan presentation about eFarm solution and operations summary (www.efarm.in) . Version 1.0 . PDF . Nov 11 2009

1. eFarm : A Farmer To Consumer Agri Supply Chain Network
The Agri-Supply Chain Crisis : Background
The eFarm Solution
Market Potential & Competitive Landscape
Operations Overview
Technology Behind eFarm : Overview
Benefit to farmers and buyers
Timeline
Highlights
FAQ
Presented By : Venkat and Valli
Founders , eFarm
www.efarm.in
HO : 11 Loganathan colony, Mylapore, Chennai , Tamilnadu

2. Harvesting of
Terminal markets to
Vegetables • Unorganized, unregulated, unprofessional & neighborhood wholesalers
unprofitable
• Lack of demand/supply data
1 • No reliable sales, distribution, marketing channels
• Poor logistics and storage
• A Middlemen‟ dominated market 5
•No IT/ERP usage – decisions are adhoc and arbitrary
Regional mandi to Wholesalers to Retailers
4 Terminal markets near
A local mandi large cities
auctioning 2
Local to Regional mandis
for Auction
6
Loss in transit
40%
Price hike Retailers to Dining Table
3 End to end
> 400%
7

3.  Farmer’s REAL needs – Not money but Marketing !!
 They are not even getting break even price – inspite of all
subsidies & assistance
 There is severe Labour shortage as young adults disinterested in
farming activities
 Land is plenty – but water is scarce
 Rural – Rich (Large farmers) , Urban – Poor (Poor vegetable
vendors)
 Largescale Migration to city from villages in search of stable jobs
 Rapid urbanisation , Loss of prime land
 Need to shift from Supply driven to Market driven
agriculture

4. Market Scenario
Data Value Notes ITC, Nilgiris,
Fruits & Vegetables (Total market) 668800 Cr Organised + Unorganised Reliance, More, Big
bazaar etc all put
Organised segment 8216 Cr < 1.2% of total market together !!!
Total Volume of fruits & vegetables 100 Million
produced Tonnes
India is a World leader in
PRODUCTION but still
Amount processed 1% World avg ~ 40%
IMPORTING our food to
Amount exported 1% Not in top 25 in world exporters meet local demand
Wastage in transit & handling 40% ~ Rs 40000 Crores lost revenue
Even a 1% reduction
in wastage will
Average per person monthly 68 Rs 11% of monthly expenses on food generate additional
expenditure in F&V (Urban) 5 crores in profit to
Avg. per person monthly 8 kgs farmers !!!
consumption of F&V
Over 60% involved in agriculture & related Typical scenario for a metro city in India with 5 Million
activities, but contributes less than 20% to population :
GDP. Growth rate Y-O-Y is just 2% owing to Daily demand : 1250 tonnes
lack of professional management & focus Daily sales : Rs 1.2 Crores
Source : IMAGES F&R Research Study , Govt of India , Dept. of Agriculture

5.  The Farmer :
 Mandi system does not offer stable , sustainable price realization
 Organised retailers don’t pick lower grades , have long credit periods
 The Lorry drivers :
 Lorry booking agents/brokers take 40% of cut. Fluctuating rates and
high stress work
 The Sellers :
 Organized retail : High investment , Poor supply chain, Low volumes
 Unorganised retailers : Sabjeewallah/push cart vendors :
▪ Missing link and unsung heroes of the supply chain. (Over 90% of volume
retailed here)
▪ No proper benefits / finance / support
 The Buyers :
 Housewife : Fluctuating costs, Poor quality
 Hotels / Food processors : High costs, Unreliable suppliers
 Exporters : Poor standards / quality , High logistics cost

6. The eFarm Vision : The Big Picture
A shared platform connecting all stakeholders
Value added resellers
Sorting , Grading , Processing, Packing
Storage
Warehouses
Bulk buyers
Exporters
Farmers eFarm
Cooperatives
Collection centers
Kiranas
Self Help
Groups
Hawkers
Village ICT kiosks
Phone booths Logistics Fleet Small Independent transporters
Mobile operators operators Intra-city small tempos

7. Create a network of farmers, intermediaries, logistics providers, distributors and
retailers
‘Organize’ the ‘un-organized’ rural to urban supply chain to create sustainable prices
for the rural members of the chain
Create a shared sourcing/marketing/distribution/retailing platform which is a
combination of offline delivery mechanism with online IT systems :
IT based B2B order matching/fulfillment system (e.g. Amazon, eBay)
+
Low cost-efficient, „Indianised‟ logistics & delivery mechanism (e.g. AMUL, Dubbawallahs)
+
People driven Direct To Consumer Marketing / Retailing channel (e.g. HLL‟s Shakti, Amway)
+
Bottom Up Entrepreneur driven model to reach all customer segments
(Self help groups, Micro finance)
Our goal
• Build a nationwide agri-supply chain network platform - Enable fair, efficient & reliable
business across the community
• Make agriculture self sustaining and curtail erratic fluctuations in price/quality
• Generate job opportunities in BOP socio-economic strata in rural and urban areas

8. Price Organised Players
•Premium stores Low volumes, Hit by
(Organic etc) •F&V focussed stores recession and low
(e.g Pazhamudhir
Nilayam)
profitability
•Branded Retailers High
(Reliance ,Low etc)
More Volume Volume, Premium stores
, High •Push
price :Sourcing and regular
carts High price •Kirana stores supply issues
, street
vendors Terminal markets
Volume Lack of
•Regional/Terminal markets standards, transparen
cy, trader/broker
High dominated
Low Volume,
Volume, exchanges
•Commodity Low
Low price (e.g. SAFAL)
Price Push carts & Kiranas
Local presence to end
customer , but high
•Village mandi wastage
As eFarm connects all players and acts as buyer or
eFarm seller in different segments, it will have a wider
footprint and better control on end to end profitability

9. eFarm Registers the
1
farmers, transporters and other
intermediaries with basic details such
as produce type, volume, expected
price range etc., Advance amounts are collected from buyers
4 .Payments are made to farmers and
-
2 eFarm identifies key buyer segments intermediaries upon delivery.
and identifies preliminary for the
products. eFarm consolidate the
Orders from buyers (B2B) received
through phone, email and walk-in to 5 The vegetables are sorted and graded at the
make one consolidated demand list eFarm Distribution centers and delivered to
respective customer locations (B2B)
-
3 eFarm sourcing managers track prices
across different areas and feed in the
data. The central order matching
system determines best
source, location and logistics channel The orders are delivered immediately through
6 delivery vans,push carts etc to end
for fulfillment.
customers
Lessons learnt, feed back and data analysis conducted on the order received is shared with
7 the members in the chain. This helps to optimize the operation continuously and increase the
value creation across the chain.

10. Cooperatives Hub and Spoke Model For Catering/Hotels
Producer Scalability and Organic Growth
Corporations
Exporters
Rural Urban
SHGs
Collection Forward Logistics ( Fresh Produce) Distribution
Centres Centers
Food Processors
Reverse Logistics ( Manure , Farmer supplies)
Bulk buyers
Small & mid sized farmers
Retailers /
Mom & Pop stores
… organic growth and
expansion

11. •IT Systems usage : NIL
•Management team : Illiterate and average age of 55
•Age of company : Over 150 years
•Customer Segment : From slumdwellers to crorepathis
•Operational efficiency : Six sigma !!!
The Mumbai Dubbawallahs !!!
•Key success factors : (video English Hindi)
•Highly decentralized operations – agile, flexible , scalable
•Use of low cost transport medium – trains
•Use of human power for last mile delivery – No Fuel related hikes
•Strong customer relationship – personal , localised
•Simple coding, routing, labelling system – operates even without electricity !
•Delivery excellance – fixed time , professionalism

12. Fix the process
first
And THEN
Implement
technology
Otherwise will be
a failure …..

13. Open source
Tools &
technologies
AgriXML
As a dataXchange
format

14. Collaboration and B2B trading
platform
•Content : Daily pricelists,
Schedules, Trends , Buyers
guides
•Order management
•Search / Track items
•Delivery tracking
•Agri specific social networking
Backoffice Systems
•Customer relationship
management
•Supply chain management
•Mobile/SMS gateway interface
•Voice based interface
•MIS & Data mart

15. ICT Technology and the BOP segment :
Challenges
• High illiteracy
• Even amongst educated – Mostly local language skills only
• Low computer skills , Low internet penetration Technology Adoption amongst BOP
segment
• Highest and fastest penetration : The mobile phone
eFarm Interface points • Self taught the phone interfaces , usage
• Voice call centres / BPOs (local language ) • Pay full price for new models , talk time
• Natural language IVRS ( 2 way – automated
messages)
• SMS
Voice and the Visually challenged
• Enabling voice interface to reach out to the visually disabled
• Voice activated systems , JAWS
• Employment opportunities as call centre/inbound/outbound agents

16. Production data
• Produce name, variety
• Grade
• Typical yield at harvest
• Harvest cycles
• Cost price at farm gate
Farmer information
• Name
• Address
• Contact number
• Preferred mode of payment
• Bank / Post office details
• Photo
• Attestation

17. Tools and calculators
to assist farmers in
determining their
Sale price
Click to open ->

18. Koyambedu
nadu tomato
(data courtesy : TNAU-INDG market
information portal)
Where to sell ?
At what price ?
Head to head comparisons
across
Markets
Ottanchatram
Insight - Support level prices and nadu tomato
inflection points
High / Low variations
Identifying „hoarding‟ and
„cartelisation‟

19. (data courtesy : TNAU-INDG market
Koyambedu : Sambar onion
information portal)
What is the demand for a
particular product variety in Koyambedu : Nagar Onion
specific market?
What variety to produce ?
When to harvest ? How much
?
Koyambedu : Tamilnadu Onion
Example using onion in Koyambedu

20. NENDRUM IN COIMBATORE MARKET NENDRUM IN CHENNAI MARKET
60 60
50 50
40 40
30
30 20
20 10
10 0
30/06/2…
26/06/2…
29/06/2…
27/06/2…
28/06/2…
01/07/2…
03/07/2…
02/07/2…
0
Nendram in Bangalore market
60
Customer : A major chips manufacturer In 50
40
chennai 30
20
Problem : Nendran variety availability & 10
quality was poor and price was very high 0
Identified alternate markets for viable bulk
sourcing from alternate markets

21. Insights into customer‟s procurement
patterns and identifying cost saving
opportunities
Drill down to
details
Highlight
Dashboard summary potential
For senior management problems
and issues
for
immediate
action

22. Cleaning / Packing
Financial Success Social Progress
Quality Routing
Inspection/ Grading
An untapped , niche Organizing the large
market with very few Long haul unorganized agri sector of
organized, entities
Transportation
India – bottom of pyramid
Revenue generation More income to farmers
through better , truck operators and small
optimization, value Rural Produce Local vendors
vendors owing to profit
addition across the chain
Collection Centres Small retailers sharing across the
network
Reduced wastage in
transit = more revenue Farmers Support to traditional , eco
Urban area
Distribution centre
friendly farm practices
Has potential to jumpstart
Local
Distribution , organic farming through
other agri-dependent better marketing
ventures
Convert waste to compost
A professional ly Compost/Manure Food Processing
, providing low cost
managed supply chain is from waste units manure back to farmers.
vital for tapping
international markets Bulk buyers Revival of agriculture
(Hotels / Caterers /
Retailers)
Exports dependent livelihoods
Potential to scale across , empowering villagers
eFarm Common Services
India as core problem is Planning & Call centre / Training &
wide spread Coordination
Research
Communication
Technology
Support Under privileged/Disabled
and urban poor get
„Pull factor‟ from rural employment opportunities
India for other services
and products

23. Customers Major Suppliers / Farmers Consultants / Collaborators
• VGP resorts • Green earth, Nilgiris • MOP Vaishnava Women’s college
• Savera hotel • Earth trust , Ooty – Dept. of Food Science &
technology
• Veggibazaar.com • Raj varadarajan farms , padalam
• Tamilnadu Agri University – Agri
• NH47 / OVG caterers • Ecoville – organic produce
Business Incubation
• Pizzaguy • Banana farmers association, TN
• ICRISAT, Hyderabad
• J’s Organo store, neelangarai • Satguna Agro , Thanjavur
• PSG College of Tech – Business
• Voluntary Health Services • Dept. of Horticulture & Agri school
Hospital, taramani marketing, TN government
• Hospiexchange
• Kalyani hospital, Mylapore • SMILE , Nellore
• RASA – School for Special
• Venkateshwara hospital • Nalamagal Trust, Dharapuram Children
, Nandanam • Future agro, calicut • Nandini – Voice for Deprived
• Bharani hotel, Thiruvanmiyur • Major Collection regions • Indian Bank – Microsate II
• Picnic plaza, Mylapore • Around Chennai /kancheepuram • IFMR
• Rayar mess , Mylapore • Karur, Namakkal • Yes Bank / Wagenegan University
• SS Annamalai staff canteen • Thanjavur • Microsoft
• Hamilton bridge area vegetable & • Ooty/Mettupalayam • SMS integra mobile gateway
fruit vendors association
• Krishnagiri, Hosur • Silicon house hosting
• Thiruvanmiyur market traders
association • Nellore, AP • Samanvaya
• VAREWA • Theni/Cumbum • Ichiban consulting
• ….etc • Exnora
Tap a wide range of expertise and
Access to wide range of customer base support structure to promote
From the domestic to export houses agribusiness
across economic pyramid!
As of August 2009

24. Agri India – LinkedIn Group ( > Link )
•Operational since Jan 2009
•connecting farmers, buyers , social agencies, agri professionals
, academicians , press reporters & students
•Leads on key demands , info about agri expos/conferences , trade
news , job announcements , new ideas , discussions …
•Articles on key topics :
•Agri business & entrepreneurship
•Organic farming
•Video clippings on key technologies & processes
•Buyer‟s guide to various fresh produce (for e.g. detecting carbide
mangoes, health benefits of keerai , selecting brinjal without
insects etc)

25. BOP Self help groups, Tiruvalluvar nagar slum
Segment Neighborhood SHGs – Nivedita , MCDS
markets , Street Thiruvanmiyur market vendors Low
High
vendors association
Middle Mom and Pop stores, Five star classic
Income hotels , Canteens ,  Hospital – VHS
segment Caterers Canteen – SS Annamalai
Restaurants – Punjabi Dawat
Margins
Volume
High End Branded stores, High Cut vegetables – Nilgiris , Surya
segment end restaurants , Greens
Hospitals ,Food Hotels – Savera , VGP Golden beach
processors
Premium Organic stores,Export IFFCO Kisan Agri SEZ(Nellore)
segment Star Agri
Low
Organic – Pasumayagam, nStore, High
Econut, Sunday Shanty

26. Multiple buyers AND sellers - Better price discovery; transparency and
Lower Price
competitiveness
Better Price Demand & supply prediction - long term pricing avoids erratic daily
Predictability swings
Farm Fresh Just in Time delivery – Farm fresh produce reaches buyer as per
Produce demands
0% wastage There exists a market for everything. Left over produce converted to
targets manure which is sold back to farmers.
Agri-sector employs over 70% of our population directly. Several more
are involved indirectly across the supply chain.
Job creation
eFarm becomes into a Job creation engine – employing NGOs / SHG
women / disabled across the chain
‘Organise the unorganised’ ; Create sustainable ventures across the
Social change
chain , Job creation, Promote underprivileged

27. eFarm won’t ‘OWN’ any of the assets – we ‘CONNECT’ existing elements which are
all independently owned and operated – Low cost of ownership
eFarm doesn’t threaten the livelihood of existing people in this trade. We help to
‘re-train’, ‘re-group’ and ‘re-vitalize’ them to become more professional and
successful in their CURRENT activities
Entrepreneur driven model, riding on top of existing networks
A ‘click & mortar’ operations - both online & offline sales
Delivery: Hub and spoke delivery model (dubbawallahs operations). Low cost
transport (push carts, cycles) in combination with vehicles for widest reach
A common brand called ‘efarm’, which adds value and quality to seller - New to agri
field
Technologies and processes are built to be simple, low cost and with widest reach
across customer base

28. 32/kg 42/kg
Eg: Ooty Carrots (As of 29th 28/kg
June 2009) 24/kg
22/kg
20/kg End
customer
5/kg 12/kg price
Farmer‟s Regional Metro Terminal Neighbourhood Kirana Branded Premium
market mandi Market market stores, Retailers Grade
(In Ooty/ (Mettupala (Chennai) (Thiruvanmiyur Push (Export)
Kothagiri) yam) Chennai) carts
500 % Price hike
Source : Ooty market traders, Chennai traders, indg.in
 Over 500% Price hike on average to customer , but no value addition
 Changes hands several times: 40-50% is wasted – which adds to the costs
 Prices set at each intermediate point arbitrarily by brokers/agents without
any planned demand/supply data
 Farmer typically operates at 25% loss , End retailer less than 5% net margin

29. 30/kg
Export prices
become
Eg: Ooty Carrots (As of 29th 19.75/kg viable and
June 2009) competitive
13.5/kg End
End customer
6.5/kg s see 30%
Farmers are Wholesale customer drop in
paid 20% buyers see prices
higher than a 33%
price
current drop
prices to
ensure
profitability
Farmer eFarm wholesale eFarm retail
(at Mylapore (at eFarm powered outlets
Distribution centre) and customer deliveries)
Reduced from 500% to 200%
 Assumptions : Transport Rs 6000 for 4T truck , Operational expense @30%
 Wastage reduced from 40% to 5% owing to prior demand data , and less intermediaries
 Customers see a 30% drop when compared to prevailing market
 End retailers get better margins , promoting more sales & entrepreneurship in F&V
 eFarm‟s net margin : 30%

30. Current status :
•Completed 1.5 years of pilot operations. Current turnover approx 1.5 lakhs per month
•Current daily volume of about 1 tonne per day , split across customer segments (low, mid, and high value)
•Over 250 members /partners in the eFarm community
Apr-09
Nellore Agri SEZ ,
Indian delegation member Jun-09
First eFarm powered store at
Feb-08 May 08 Dec-08
Neelangarai
Concept Initiation Portal launched TePP Grant from Govt
Apr-08 Jul-08 Oct-08 Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09
Jan-08 Sep-09
Jul 08 Mar-09 May-09
Live Trials begin Launched Organic Sales Press coverage :
Hindu, TOI, NDTV

31. Visits to farms
across Tamilnadu
A Roadside
farmers auction in
a village
Govt. farmers
direct sales
market ,
Theni & Hosur

32. Discussions with
Agri experts ,
Supply chain
managers, existin
g models
, industry
veterans
(centre)
Forming pilot
focus group with
representative
members across
the chain
Discussions with
NGOs
, Microfinance
, Rural banks &
self help group
members

33. eFarm
office and
godown at
Mylapore
, Chennai
Upgraded
vending carts
, standardised
weights and
measures
Distribution
centre at
Chennai
(godown)

34. Murugesan,
coconut
farmer, with
graded
coconuts
Small
tempos for
local
deliveries –
powered
by eFarm
Panjali picking up vegetables from our Mylapore centre
Only a eFarm
phone call mobile
away … a store at an
vegetable old age
vendor home
enquiring
prices

35. Cut
vegetables
Peeled
onions
and garlic
Sorting
Grading
Over 60% of our staff have some physical or mental &
disability Natural
Agri waste Ripening
collection Of fruits
and
composting

36. Innovations in Tie ups with Agri
agriculture research and Agri eFarm office and
retailing business godown at
incubation Mylapore
Talk at MOP centres , Chennai
Vaishnava (ICRISAT)
womens’s
college, Chennai
IFMR, LIBA, ICFAI,
IBS, TNAU, MOP Talks in
management (centre)
Vaishnava … schools and Setting shop -
institutions Our home
(IFMR , IBS) became the
Field trips to villages and address Conferences and godown & store.
Farmers gathering trade shows
Upgraded
vending carts
, standardised
weights and
measures

37. Train the
trainer
camps at
farms
Existing
tempo
operator
training
new
recruits
Interns from colleges
CarBazaar Organising
Format store the street
For promoting hawkers
Organic
produce in the
beach

38. •TATA NEN Hottest startup 2009
nominee
•IIM Kozhikode Whiteknight 2009
Business Plan contest winner
•IIM Ahmedabad Leverage 2009
Showcase shortlisted startup
•In the press
•Entrepreneur , Sep 09
•The Hindu magazine‟s Ergo tabloid
(Mar 2009)
•Times of India , May 2009
•NDTV News , June 2009
•Featured in leading e-zines –
yourstory.in, startups.in
•Featured in Tamil press- Kumudham
, Dinakaran
•Outlook Money , June 2009
•JADE , June 2009
•Academic
•Faculty for Food SCM course, MOP
Vaishnava college
•Key note speaker – TNAU conferences

39. Our Vision
•Bring people together through creative use of technology platforms ('connecting the dots' ) to form socio-economic-webs
•Create successful entrepreneurial, social enterprises which are profitable and sustainable
•Make corporate social responsibility our core business model and differentiator
•Measure success not just in financial growth , but also in the social growth in the areas we serve
• Venkata Subramanian Founder & Managing Director: (venky@matchboxsolutions.in )
MS (Computer Science), University at Albany, NY , B.Arch , IIT Kharagpur (1995) , India
12 years of experience in IT industry , lead key accounts in BFSI for Wipro, Satyam in USA. Very
strong expertise in analysis & design of complex systems , portal development , back office
operations.
Responsible for overall strategy , technology and public relations
• Srivalli , Co-Founder, CEO (srivalli@matchboxsolutions.in)
MBA , B.Com Taxation
8 years experience in Sales, Marketing, & Operations. Has run two start-ups and organised fund
raising for NGOs as part of CSR programs.
Responsible for operations, business development, finance, administration
• Consultants and advisors from leading agricultural universities, management schools, government and
industry
Combination of different background ,skills and experience to provide creative perspectives to solving key
problems in the supply chain area

41.  Prices are arrived at based on fair negotiations and in advance
 All grades (High/Medium/Low) produce is picked at different rates and
matched with suitable end customer preferences
 By reducing wastage across the chain , farmer gets price from more
quantity sold
 Pick-up is done from farm or from local collection centers , reducing
transportation costs to farmer
 Payments are made in full upon delivery , through transparent means with
proper paper bills
 Data about current demand, price levels, buyer preferences, projected
volumes available for aiding in planning phase

42.  Branded retailers have Limited market potential – cater to only
the top 5%
eFarm has marketing channels across the sector – Slums to
Exports
 They Try to fix one end of a completely broken supply chain
eFarm works across the supply chain, and focuses on
marketing as well as sourcing
 They go for Breadth first approach to scale across geographies
(in a race to have maximum stores)
eFarm has a depth first approach , to explore a given
geography to fullest potential across market segments and
then grow to adjoining regions
 Require huge Investments
eFarm essentially doesn’t need to own any assets

43. Why the government or Private sector
not been able to solve this problem ?
 Farmer‟s Market : A utopian concept but impractical
 Farmers selling direct to buyers through special markets has failed as
„Selling‟ is a separate specialized activity which requires time , energy
and additional investment
 Loan waivers and subsidies come with caveats and vested interests
 Corruption, bureacracy and vested interest to push certain schemes
have added insult to injury to farmers
 Frequent changes in administrators & bureacrats derail most
projects

44. Why the government or Private sector
not been able to solve this ? - Continued
 There is no „single‟ entity owning responsibility of entire chain
 The systems are usually closed, vendor specific or too complex
that predominantly it‟s reach and volume is limited
 They cater only to the top 5% of the income/social bracket , and that
too in metros. Hence the effects aren‟t felt at the „bottom of the
pyramid‟.
 In some cases, it has resulted in a David v/s Goliath fight where the
large retailers are trying to completely by-pass existing traders and
small time vendors, leading to stiff resistance and negativity
 Big investments made . But Recession has hit retail

45. Frequently Asked Questions
 So what happens to current middle men ?
 Value added resellers
 Intermediaries – Sorting, Grading, Packing, Transporting
 Storage – Dry / Cold
 Processing – juices, extracts, powders
 Distributors
 Retailers – many formats
 Doesn’t eFarm face any resistance from people/mafia ?
“Gabbar singh kehkar gaya , Jo dar gayaa , Who Mar Gayaa” –(From a
Hindi movie – One who is Afraid, is already Dead “
 Only brokers/agents make money
 Highly unceratin trade across entire chain , hence even brokers
impacted as commissions fluctuate
 Value addition and predictability brings stable revenue and assuarnce
for everyone

46. Frequently Asked Questions
So how is eFarm different from a typical trader or agent ?
Agent eFarm
Operates on commision basis on volume transacted. Rates Has worked out long term price plans with farmers /suppliers
vary daily as sourcing is from auction mandis and wholesale /transporters based on ‘cost price’ model. Prices are more stable
markets.
Has a few sources , usually from a certain radius of his eFarm is a network of networks. Sourcing is across regions. We
operation. Handles only a few items . Hence need to have offer wider variety in items, grade. This provides alternatives and
different agents to map out entire order requirement. choices to manage any scale and any risks.
Predominantly limited education , professional background eFarm is founded by an IIT alumni with over 12 years of experience
and trust worthiness. in serving Fortune 500 customers worldwide. It is a collaboration of
professionals across various industries/disciplines – agriculture,
technology, SCM , Sales & Marketing, Finance, Government and
Non-profit organizations.
Agents being mostly individuals, have limited exposure. eFarm is backed by social investors and leading banks and is
Cannot handle financial risks and uncertainties in market. financially in better position to handle the scale of growth.

47. Frequently Asked Questions
 But how can someone buy vegetables online ? Thats impossible !
 Its not mandatory to use our web ordering feature. What we advocate is
„advanced planning and ordering‟ reduces wastage and ensures availability.
Customers can order through phone .
 All Orders get collated at our backoffice each day.
 Demand Supply prediction – Use statistical tools to „predict‟ demand from
walkin and adhoc customers
 Current examples – Train, bus, movie tickets
 Gradual change in mindset – From walkin , to phone-in, to paper, to email
to online forms
Why a social enterprise and not a regular corporate firm ?
• Pure corporates – Failing on greed and personal egos
• Pure govt. initiatives – Failing on corruption & bureaCRAZY
• Pure NGO/NPO – Driven by passion, but lack sustainability and governance
• Working for a social cause DOES NOT MEAN we need to be making LOSS
The middle path : Social + Business goals

48. Venky
venky@matchboxsolutions.in
044-43577236 , 0-98847 61354
Valli
srivalli@matchboxsolutions.in
11 Loganathan colony
Mylapore , Chennai
Tamilnadu - 600004