City: | Singapore |
Challenge Title: | SMART CONTRACTING SYSTEM TO FACILITATE COMMODITY TRADING |
Challenge Owner: | Trustineo International |
Challenge Website: | https://www.openinnovation.sg/challenges/smart-contracting-system-to-facilitate-commodity-trading#j2XPJD |
Challenge Award: | SGD 35,000 of prize money for each winner |
Other Awards: | An opportunity to work with a partner that has ground experience and an extensive network in the agricultural and commodity training business in West AfricaPotential business partnership or equity share in an innovative start-up |
Theme / Sector: | Digitization of Society, Apps, AI |
Challenge Blurb: | Today, only large importers and exporters with economies of scale can access premium commodity suppliers in West Africa market successfully and cost-efficiently. There is an untapped opportunity to better connect small and medium enterprises (SME) in South East Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand etc. with the suppliers in West Africa through digital means. To this end, Trustineo would like to develop a digital trading exchange platform that can aggregate the demand of many smaller buyers and sellers. Trustineo envisages that such a platform would enable trusted and transparent trading of small quantities of commodities direct from the source, and greatly simplify the complex transaction process and challenges for SME buyers looking to trade with West African suppliers. Trustineo will eventually provide end-to-end support to enable supply of the commodities to Singapore (as a base for the region), including verification of the commodity producer (quality and standards), ensuring regulatory compliance, managing the freight logistics, and managing financial transactions. For a start, Trustineo is looking for a digitally-enabled smart contracting system to facilitate cocoa, coffee, cashew and fish trades between West African suppliers in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, and Singapore-based SMEs. |
Challenge Description: | Problem Statement – How might we manage contracting between commodity buyers in Singapore and farmers in West Africa, using a digital (and mobile-based) solution that is secure, easy to understand and builds trust between the trading parties? What We Are Looking For : – A prototype solution that will enable formation and execution of a contract between farmer (or an intermediary, like a cooperative) and a Singapore-based buyer, that will enable trusted trading of small quantities (less than 1 tonne or 1,000 kg in a transaction – The smart contracting aspect will need to link commodity quality, quantity, price, compliance with government regulations (e.g. import and export licenses, customs declarations), verification of payment, and compliance with industry standards (e.g. fair trade certification), and provide the security to prevent any kind of fraud. – The solution should minimise the need for any paper documentation, preferably providing a fully digital solution, noting that some inputs to the contract (like government licenses) are in paper form, and would need to be ingested. It should support digital identification verification and digital signing of contracts. – The solution will need to be largely smart-phone based, particularly in West Africa, where it will be the primary user interface for farmers. – The solution should be open and designed to be cloud-native, i.e., able to be seamlessly integrated to various cloud platforms, based on scalable platform and flexible software architecture which will able to adapt to changes in both environment and usability requirements. This will allow Trustineo to implement new features in the future in a modular and agile manner. – The solution should be able to scale to enable aggregation of multiple sellers (farmers) and buyers (SMEs), and across different markets in West Africa and Southeast Asia potentially with different import and export requirements. – The platform should be able to work in English (for buyers) and French(for West African farmers) |
Open for Submissions: | 16 April 2019 |
Deadline for Submissions: | 21 June 2019, 1600 hours (SGT/GMT +8) |
Finalist Announcement: | TBA |
Winner Announcement: | TBA |
Who Can Apply: | Open to international participants |
Registration Details: | Submit online at: https://www.openinnovation.sg/challenges/smart-contracting-system-to-facilitate-commodity-trading#j2XPJD |
For application assistance: Quercus Group