Brastorne Enterprises, a Botswana-based startup that transforms function telephones into Web-enabled gadgets for rural Africans, plans to start operations in Côte d’Ivoire by the top of the primary quarter of 2026 because it rolls out a light-weight internet platform designed for farmers utilizing entry-level smartphones, the corporate advised TechCabal.
The enlargement will probably be finished by means of a partnership with cell community operator Orange, a long-time accomplice of the corporate, because it continues to scale providers geared toward customers with out dependable web entry or high-end gadgets.
Brastorne’s enlargement comes as agritech platforms throughout Africa more and more undertake hybrid fashions that mix USSD providers with internet and smartphone platforms in response to uneven connectivity throughout the continent. Smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa stays beneath 55%, with gaps most pronounced in rural areas the place the vast majority of smallholder farmers stay.
Platforms comparable to Kenya’s DigiFarm, M-Kulima, and Farm.io have constructed providers round USSD and SMS to succeed in farmers utilizing fundamental telephones whereas progressively introducing on-line platforms as web entry improves, reflecting a broader shift in African agritech towards transferring customers on-line whereas sustaining entry for farmers who nonetheless depend upon low-bandwidth channels for data, market entry, and advisory providers.
Based in 2013 by Martin Stimela and Naledi Magowe, Brastorne operates in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, and Zambia, with practically six million customers. The corporate targets Africans with out smartphones or dependable web entry, a inhabitants it estimates at about 760 million, and has partnered with organisations together with Heifer Worldwide in Zambia in addition to cell operators Orange, Mascom, and MTN throughout its markets.
The platform at the moment runs three core providers: mAgri, which gives farmers with market data, buying and selling alternatives, and agricultural recommendation; Mpotsa, an interactive voice and SMS service delivering localised content material on well being, training, and employment; and Vuka, a social communication service designed for feature-phone customers.
Brastorne co-founder Naledi Magowe mentioned the corporate will hold its USSD providers for feature-phone customers even because it introduces a light-weight internet platform for smartphone customers as connectivity improves.
“We selected an online app as an alternative of an app as a result of after we take a look at the farmers that we’re reaching, they do have smartphones, however entry-level smartphones the place house turns into a problem,” Magowe mentioned. “If you happen to’re coming with an software, it’s going to be uninstalled in a short time as a result of they wish to save house.”
The brand new internet platform will permit farmers to ask questions in native languages by means of textual content, voice, or photographs, with responses generated by an AI system educated on agricultural information, climate data, and market intelligence. If the system can’t resolve a question, it escalates the request to a human agronomist.
“We would like the farmer to have the ability to, for instance, in the event that they’re noticing some type of pest or illness on their crops, simply take an image, add it on the internet app, and the AI offers diagnostic data and hyperlinks them to an skilled,” Magowe mentioned.
Based on the corporate, the platform integrates stay climate information, pest and illness surveillance, and market pricing data to offer context-specific suggestions. It would additionally embrace coaching modules, certification programmes by means of college partnerships, farmer-to-farmer video content material, and a digital market the place customers can listing and think about merchandise.
Magowe mentioned synthetic intelligence (AI) will more and more be used to personalise consumer experiences and enhance effectivity, though the corporate remains to be constructing technical capability.
“We’re nonetheless in search of expertise that may assist us solidify our AI operation,” she mentioned, noting that specialised AI experience stays restricted throughout the continent.
Brastorne additionally plans to introduce monetary providers comparable to credit score and insurance coverage for smallholder farmers by means of partnerships with cell cash platforms, together with Orange Cash and MTN MoMo.
Magowe mentioned localisation will probably be central to the Côte d’Ivoire launch, an element she described as key to Brastorne’s success throughout a number of African markets.
“Each nation could be very distinctive. What’s being farmed is completely different, the local weather is completely different, even livestock priorities are completely different,” she mentioned. “We work with native content material companions to make sure the precise translations, the precise content material, and that our merchandise are tailor-made to the wants of farmers in every market.”
Whereas partnerships with cell community operators have enabled scale, they’ve additionally slowed enlargement timelines, a problem the corporate is attempting to mitigate.
“Simply to get issues located in Botswana, it took us about three years. After which the following market we went into was DRC. That took nearly two years. Then the following market took a couple of yr,” Magowe mentioned. “So it does scale back over time. Nonetheless, it’s not as quick as we want it to be as a result of we’re additionally a enterprise and we have to develop and we now have a staff and we nonetheless must function.”
Regardless of the problem, the corporate is continuing with its Côte d’Ivoire launch because it accelerates its shift from USSD to AI-driven platforms throughout new markets.
As Brastorne prepares to enter Côte d’Ivoire, additionally it is exploring enlargement into Burkina Faso, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, with the long-term purpose of working in at the least 19 African nations and reaching over 45 million customers, serving to to slender the continent’s connectivity hole.
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