1. The Online Commodity Exchange Limited Domestic Consumer Information Manual

2. Content What is The Online Commodity Exchange (TOCE) Who is a domestic consumer? What does TOCE do for the domestic consumer? How does the domestic consumer use TOCE? What does it cost the domestic consumer to use TOCE? How does the domestic consumer benefit from using TOCE? When can a domestic consumer start using TOCE

3. What is The Online Commodity Exchange (TOCE) TOCE is an organic solution to the problem of farm produce marketing in Kenya. The Online Commodity Exchange (TOCE) Limited is a farmer owned driven company that was incorporated after one year consultations between some 700 farmers under the banner of The Farm Produce Marketing Initiative Kenya (FPMI-K) crystallizing into concrete steps in the last six months to create a commercial entity that will eventually list on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The Kenyan farmer has been since just shortly after independence a bystander in the area of farm produce marketing a area controlled almost entirely by brokers, middlemen and cartels. Since 1988 the Kenyan farmer has been trying to break loose. With the aid of NGO’s and government agencies the problem has continued to be discussed while farm incomes have plummeted and farming in may sectors has become completely unprofitable leading to many farmers giving up on farming and myriad bankruptcies. With a body of research and on the ground information FPMI-K was formed not merely to look at what the problem was but to see how it could be fixed not by government because in many agricultural sectors government is the broker and not by NGO’s because NGO driven initiatives have proved no better than government initiatives, but by actual farmers; the ones mired in the debt they cannot pay, farm land that is continually reducing in productivity, fighting weather patterns that no longer make any sense and at the end of the day selling their produce at prices close to 70% below what they sell at in the trade at in the urban markets. The most enduring lessons of the FPMI-K conversations were that farm produce marketing had to be fixed on the demand side. Not by associations and cooperatives like farmers had used for so long but by an actual commercial entity that was owned by the farms and went about the task not for humanitarian reasons but for commercial reasons. That looked at the problem from the demand side and not from the supply side. That brought a real world business model to a sector that still underpins the Kenyan economy. That is why TOCE was incorporated.

4. Who is a domestic consumer? A domestic consumer for the purposes of fresh produce procurement is one whose monthly domestic purchasing does not exceed Kshs 35,000 per month.

5. What does TOCE do for the Domestic Consumer? TOCE has a slogan “Makes Life Simple, Makes Sense” this applies squarely to the farmer. TOCE reduces the overall procurement cost of a domestic consumer by direct procurement from the farmer. It is very possible for the domestic consumer to experience savings on their procurement of upto 30% of they procure individually. If they use the procurement bulking facility savings can rise as high as 50%. TOCE connects the farmer and the farm to a virtual market for farm produce. This virtual market is market of commercial kitchens, manufacturers and domestic consumers who have been advertised and marketed to use TOCE as a one stop platform to access farm produce from all across the country. TOCE allows the domestic consumer to participate in value added initiatives that originate from its themselves allowing them by buying these value added products to dramatically reducing its costs. TOCE removes the challenge of delivery to the customer. Realizing that no consumer wants to take delivery from 80 farmers in a day for 80 different products TOCE runs a consignee delivery system which allows the farmer to deliver to one centralized point and then to have those goods delivered directly to the end consumer with settlement executed much the same way it is for fast food chains. In the long-run TOCE will allow farmers to consign their produce direct from the farm wherever they are in Kenya direct to the distribution center.

6. How does the domestic consumer use TOCE? The commercial kitchen can access TOCE via three medium:  Via the website where orders are placed and confirmed by the commercial kitchen online.  Via the Android app where orders are placed and confirmed by the commercial kitchen on the app.

7. What does it cost the domestic consumer to use TOCE? TOCE is absolutely free for domestic consumers to use. Famers realize that they operate in a buyers market, to move their product quickly and effectively they have created a virtual market where the customers need are paramount and just like the public markets or the supermarkets there is no charge to come in and look or buy.

8. How does the domestic consumer benefit from using TOCE? Lower prices through direct procurement. Even lower prices through product bulking. Access to the Shoppy to obtain access to goods and services that would otherwise be a nightmare to find in the online market place.

9. When can a domestic consumer start using TOCE Currently domestic consumers are being registered and zoned so that their needs may be assessed. Once the registration process is over we will give one weeks notice for the commencement of product placement and trading on the platform.