Cubeseed

The Problem

Smallholder farmers in Nigeria often struggle to identify reliable suppliers for essential agricultural inputs—feed, seeds, equipment. Many transactions happen through informal networks or intermediaries, leading to inflated prices, low-quality products, or fraudulent suppliers.

At the same time, legitimate input producers face difficulty reaching new customers and presenting products credibly. Traditional e-commerce marketplaces rely on integrated payment systems, but many agricultural communities operate on trust-based workflows where payments occur after negotiation, delivery, or offline verification.

The challenge: design a platform enabling suppliers and farmers to connect, communicate, and coordinate transactions while respecting existing trust-based business practices.

Research & Insights

Through extensive user research—40+ farmer interviews and 15+ supplier interviews—we discovered a critical insight: many agricultural transactions in Nigeria don't follow formal e-commerce models at all.

• Trust-based workflows are the norm: Farmers and suppliers rely heavily on relationship-driven transactions: requesting quotes, negotiating terms, confirming delivery, and settling payments offline.
• Formal e-commerce doesn't fit: Attempting to replicate traditional online marketplace models with integrated payments would misalign with how producers actually conduct business.
• Transparency and organization improve existing systems: Rather than replacing the trust model, we could enhance it by making supplier discovery and communication more structured and transparent.

Design Solution

I designed the Input Producer Portal—a web-based platform allowing agricultural suppliers to showcase products, receive quote requests from farmers, and coordinate transactions through structured communication workflows.

Rather than functioning as a traditional e-commerce marketplace, the platform supports existing procurement by enabling producers to:

• Create verified product listings with pricing and minimum order quantities
• Receive quote requests from farmers
• Send invoices or purchase orders
• Coordinate delivery and confirm payment outside the platform

This approach maintains the trust-driven nature of agricultural transactions while introducing transparency and organization into the procurement process.

Before & After

Key Learnings

• Competitive Analysis Matters: I would have spent more time identifying and analyzing additional competitors to strengthen strategic positioning.
• Refine Research Questions: I would have validated and iterated on user interview questions to ensure we were extracting the most actionable insights.
• Design for Trust, Not Just Features: This project deepened my understanding of designing for trust, building MVPs with clear focus, and making intentional trade-offs. Success meant understanding cultural context, not just user needs.