Dec 15th, 2011
Groundbreaking study confirms that farmers using Esoko receive more for their crops
Bamako, Mali – INRA, the French National Institute for National Research, found that smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana have seen a 10% revenue increase receiving and then utilizing Esoko SMS market prices—the first study if its kind to prove impact. Julie Subervie of INRA, the lead of the project, announced these findings in a presentation at the Market Information Systems Conference in Bamako. In the study, 600 smallholder farmers were comprehensively surveyed on their trading behaviors.
Read the full story »

Oct 15th, 2011
Esoko and MTN put Farmers First in Ghana
Accra, Ghana - Esoko is partnering with MTN, the largest mobile operator in the country, to help spread the word about Esoko services. The partnership, called “Farmer First” is two fold: the first portion being a nationwide road show of 16 agricultural markets over the coming months.  As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility program, MTN has also pledged to sponsor hundreds of rural farmers to receive Esoko price alerts on their phones.  Farmers have already been trained, and are now receiving price information of the commodities and locations of their choice directly onto their mobile phones.
Read the full story »

July 30th, 2011
Esoko enters the world of health with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Accra, Ghana - The USAID supported BCS project in Ghana, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), will be rolling out Esoko as a way to better share and collect information from 22 local NGOs and over 2000 local community volunteers in the Greater Accra, Central, and Western regions. Esoko will be used to both support monitoring & evaluation of community mobilization activities and serve as a direct source of information.
Read the full story »

May 15th, 2011
Using Esoko, grain farmers in Malawi will connect to new markets for the first time
Lilongwe, Malawi - Malawi’s farmers have a new way to check grain prices thanks to Esoko, an SMS based market information exchange introduced by USAID’s Market Linkages Initiative (MLI). MLI, a two-year USAID regional program to promote growth in food staples and food security will be using Esoko to integrate smallholder farmers into more efficient national and regional markets. A mobile-integrated software built in Accra, Ghana, Esoko offers a variety of tools to help projects like MLI, such as easy profiling in the field and automatic SMS alerts sent to farmers.
Read the full story »

April 17, 2011
Agro-Input MIS using Esoko launches across Eastern and Southern Africa
Accra, Ghana – A joint initiative of IFDC, the East Africa Community (EAC) and COMESA, AMITSA is improving access to market and technical information on agricultural inputs (fertilizers, seeds and crop protection products) in eastern and southern Africa. The lack of accurate, up-to-date information on agro-inputs is one of the major constraints to increasing agricultural productivity and developing business linkages and trade in the region. To address this problem, AMITSA was created to provide accessible data through an open and collaborative market information system. The AMITSA network covers eight countries – Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Read the full story »

March 15, 2011
NYU launches ambitious research program with Esoko
Accra, Ghana – New York University Abu Dhabi, through its Center for Technology and Economic Development (CTED) , has teamed up with Esoko, a mobile market information exchange based in Accra, Ghana. The first aspect of the partnership will come in the form of analysing historical price data--Esoko has hundreds of thousands of historical market prices, collected over time in 15 partner countries. Yaw Nyarko, professor of Economics at NYU, will be leading the team looking for anticipated price trends as well as unexpected patterns that may emerge by overlaying the Esoko data with other available data, like global food prices and weather.
Read the full story »

February 22, 2011
Esoko launches services in Ghana
Accra, Ghana – Esoko, the market information exchange today officially launched its services in Accra, Ghana. Formerly known as TradeNet, the award-winning mobile platform also used the occasion to launch the range of services it provides, which included its new Scout and Stock applications, which are powerful tools that allow you to poll thousands in the field with question and response formats, and also track stock availability and inventory.
Read the full story »

December 15, 2010
European chocolatier partners with Esoko and redefines what it means to trade fair with Africa
London, United Kingdom/Accra, Ghana – Prestat, chocolatiers have begun a partnership with Ghanaian software company Esoko to deliver market information directly to rural farmers using new SMS technologies. “We’re trying to impact livelihoods” says Bill Keeling, co-owner of Prestat, “and I’m not convinced that the current Fair Trade model is delivering the results we are looking for”. 
Read the full story »

December 1st, 2010
Esoko's new 'polling' service transforms how businesses collect data across Africa
Accra, Ghana  - Scout, a new feature on the Esoko platform, will change forever how organizations collect data from the field with the introduction of SMS polling. “Businesses and projects came to us again and again needing a way to collect and manage information from the field in a less expensive and more efficient way.  We realized that the opportunity was enormous ”.
Read the full story »

November 22nd, 2010
IFC and Soros Economic Development Fund Invest $2.5m in Esoko
Washington, D.C./Accra, Ghana— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Soros Economic Development Fund have both invested $1.25 million of equity into Esoko, a Ghanaian technology firm. The investment in Esoko will give small holder African farmers and businesses timely crop information that can be shared via text messaging, enabling farmers to increase their incomes.
Read the full story »

May 10th, 2010
Esoko is bringing mobile data services to Northern Sudan for the first time
Khartoum, Sudan/Accra, Ghana – Under the Food Security Project in Northern Sudan, FAO Sudan will soon begin a deployment of Esoko’s web and mobile Market Information System as the FAMIS (Food and Agriculture Market Information System) portion of the overall Food Security project. This project is being implemented through the local ministries in the fifteen northern Sudanese states.
Read the full story »

January 10, 2010
Silicon Valley invests in local Ghana software start-up, Esoko
ACCRA, Ghana -  A respected social entrepreneur and Silicon Valley veteran has invested in Esoko, a local Accra-based software company that is pioneering the use of mobile technologies among farmers and traders. After retiring from a successful career at some of Silicon Valley’s most notable companies (including 20 years as a distinguished engineer at Cisco Systems) Jim Forster wanted to make a difference. 
Read the full story »