Founded by farmers, built like a platform.
Gutu Debel
Second-generation farmer and architect by training, leading Turmi's field operations and farmer network.
LinkedIn
Bekam Merdassa
Engineer and farmer-in-training, building Turmi's technology stack alongside hands-on farm experience.
LinkedInThe Problem
Turmi began with a feed shortage. Our founders set out to supply feed for an on-farm ranch and live-animal export venture in the western Ethiopian lowlands — a region defined by severe dry-season feed scarcity, yet home to one of the largest animal trading hubs in the country, moving 20,000+ cattle weekly. The gap was clear: abundant livestock, insufficient feed, and no financing structure built to close it.
The Solution
We started a seed farm, multiplying genetically sound Super Napier and cowpea seed sourced from ILRI Ethiopia for regional smallholders and commercial farmers. We piloted an internal remote-sensing tool to monitor our own operations and considered pivoting to a pure agrifintech SaaS model for FIs and DFIs — but partners were skeptical that software alone could resolve the sector's high-NPL problem without an underlying financing structure to de-risk it. We deferred that model until our production pipeline matured, and settled on two in-kind financing models instead (below).
The Technology
Solving the underlying verification and financing-structure problem — not just monitoring it — is what our platform is built for:
- Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization — Tokenizing export trade receivables through a U.S.-domiciled special purpose vehicle (SPV), enabling on-chain issuance and settlement of receivables-backed instruments. Learn more at www.podrwa.com.
- AI-Powered Automated Underwriting Engine — An evidence-gated underwriting system that triggers tranche-based disbursement only once remote-sensing and ground-truth verification confirm milestone completion, replacing manual, paperwork-based review with continuous, portfolio-scale monitoring.
- Open-Source Geospatial Intelligence Platform — A foundational computer-vision training environment for geospatial classification tasks, including plow detection, yield prediction, and hyper-local ground-truth environmental modeling.
We're a startup, experimenting with models that will scale — developing the tools and organizational structures to support that, and iterating on operational efficiency and financial instruments as we go.
We've settled on two business models for now:
Vertically Integrated Ranch-as-a-Service
We grow forage on our experimental farms, build the barn infrastructure, and work with local individuals and cooperatives to raise cattle in our feedlots on contract. We provide infrastructure and feed on credit; our financial-institution partner provides input financing directly to farmers in our network — in-kind financing, no cash payments. We aggregate and export, settle the short-term loan balance with the financial institution, and refund the balance to members.
Input Financing for MSE Feed Producers
We provide input financing to local micro/small-enterprise farms to grow animal feed varieties — seed, seedlings, and other in-kind inputs. Farms repay a percentage of yield under contractual terms. We post-process the harvest into silage/forage and resell it to feedlots in our network.
Want to join our team? Reach out to us at info@turmi-ag.com.