• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Blockchain breakthrough? Poor Zambian farmers are now empowered within AB InBev’s supply chain

September 4, 2018Chris Crowell

blockchain
I’d honestly believe this is what a blockchain looks like.

If we’re going to call out global beer conglomerates when they hurt small, independent businesses, it’s only fair to note when that size works to the advantage of the disadvantaged. Before you roll your eyes too hard, let’s dive into the technology at the core of this news.

Empowering the poor

Minneapolis-based tech startup BanQu has developed a blockchain technology to empower people in the poorest sectors of the globe and connect them with economic opportunities that would otherwise be impossible. The platform gives these “unbanked” or “underbanked” people a free, secure, online profile that provides a recognizable economic identity. In just a number of minutes, unbanked mobile users set up a personal digital identification profile that connects to their banked network, including family, friends, small businesses and associated NGOs. As they start accumulating transaction histories on the BanQu blockchain, the world’s unbanked also develop a traceable, vetted financial and personal history.

If this interests you, I’d recommend reading this Q&A with the founder.

The next step is perhaps the harder part: connecting these previously unconnectable producers with brands looking to improve supply chain management and enhance ROI through asset provenance via for-profit/for-purpose blockchain-as-a-service software.

AB InBev partnership

In June 2018, BanQu piloted a new partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev, working to connect 2,000 Zambian farmers to the mobile platform as they harvest and sell a projected 2,000 tons of cassava — producing a high-quality starch used in beer — by the end of Zambia’s growing season in August.

“Since 60 percent of the 2.7 billion unbanked and underbanked people already own mobile phones, these devices make the best platform for these people to connect to the global economy,” said BanQu Founder and CEO Ashish Gadnis, who himself grew up in poverty in India. “BanQu is enabling the democratization of data, money and eventually power, while delivering a distinct business advantage to global brands like Anheuser-Busch InBev and their localized company, Zambian Breweries, who believe in an inclusive agricultural model. Our goal is to strengthen this partnership across multiple crops and countries setting up a long-term, sustainable and responsible supply chain that directly benefits the small-scale farmers in the world.”

With supply chain traceability and transparency, BanQu provides Anheuser-Busch InBev’s local business, Zambian Breweries, with the ability to track its product every step of the way through built-in geo-location tags on all transactions along with farmer identity profiles. As products like the cassava crop move from one step to the next in the supply chain, from the farmer at the source to local businesses, aggregated buyers and retailers at the top, BanQu facilitates a record of sale etched on the immutable, decentralized ledger that is the blockchain.

“The scope and empowerment that the platform provides to the small holder is exceptional, and I look forward to seeing the implementation of the project, from pilot to our full-time buying platform,” said Zambian Breweries Agricultural Manager Chris Nicolle.

The BanQu Platform core includes features such as a universal design that works on any device — from the oldest to newest cell phones. The platform is 100-percent translatable by supporting any language in the world, and it is fully configurable to global brands, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), government and philanthropic organizations, as well as financial services (KYC/AML). The platform provides 24/7 free access to all consumers for every imaginable use case, from remote purchasing to cash disbursements. Lastly, as the platform is not tied to a cryptocurrency, the speed and security of transactions won’t be impacted by the volatility of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

BanQu was founded in 2016 and has connected over 15,000 last-mile farmers, displaced and refugees to the platform across eight countries. The company aims to help lift 100-million people out of extreme poverty through the use of blockchain technology by the year 2028.

Koga-brothers-karben4
Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2
Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
brooklyn 35 feature
Brooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
Hazed-For-Days-Can-12PK
Batches Be Hazy in new Schlafly variety pack and more beers to know this week

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • The who, what, where, when and how (to register) for Homebrew Con 2023
  • Twenty Tennessee breweries prep 2023 Craft Brewers Conference collab and more beers to know this week
  • Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
  • Caius Farm Brewery opens in Branford, Conn.

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Koga-brothers-karben4Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
    March 20, 2023
  • 4 steps to understanding the filtration process in craft beer
    March 20, 2023
  • newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
    March 16, 2023
  • brooklyn 35 featureBrooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
    March 14, 2023
  • Backwoods Brewing to open a 19-acre resort called Party Acres in the Columbia River gorge this May
    March 13, 2023
  • Distribution update: NYC’s Alewife Brewing now sells in eastern Pennsylvania + news from Maui, Urban South and more
    March 13, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC