Now launching · Seed round open

Orders for 1,000.Cash for 500.

A grower, a trader, a shop owner. Same gap, every sales cycle.

The Lending DeskRef: WC/0042
Application outcome

Working capital application

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for applying for working capital to double your next stock order. Unfortunately we are unable to proceed on this occasion, because of:

No formal credit history
No collateral we can accept
Income we are unable to verify

You are welcome to reapply once your business has grown.

Lending Operations

The bank says grow first. The supplier says pay first. We think that's backwards.

Our mission

Back Africa’s builders to grow on their own trading record.

Small producers, traders and shop owners keep Africa’s supply chains moving, yet most are shut out of the capital, coaching and insight that would help them grow. Khonza works with the suppliers they already buy from to change that, one supply chain at a time.

The problem

Growth is gated by cash.

Banks want a track record first. Suppliers want cash first. So capable businesses stay small, however strong the demand.

Our solution

Supplier-backed growth, settled at the sale.

Stock on trade terms through the supplier they already trust, settled when the goods are sold, with coaching, a peer community and intelligence alongside.

The outcome

Everyone in the chain grows.

Builders grow profit and a record they own. Suppliers grow loyal customers. Funders back real trading history.

Built for any supply chain where the sales cycle runs in weeks. Starting in Tanzania with our first project, Kuku Pesa

Supplier-backed

Settled when sold

Community.Coaching.Intelligence.Capital.

Built with the suppliers small businesses already buy from.

One model. Any supply chain that runs in weeks.

Wherever one supplier provides most of the stock and the sales cycle runs in weeks, the model works. We prove it one supply chain at a time.

Poultry

Our first project: Kuku Pesa, with broiler growers in Dar es Salaam

First project →

Layers and eggs

Layer farms and egg traders on the same supply routes

Agro-dealers and the growers they supply

Aerial view of a green field with the Khonza mark mown into it

Capital that follows the sale.

Four steps, repeated every sales cycle. Each one leaves the business a little bigger than the last.

Step 1 · Stock

Buy the batch your business is ready for, from the supplier you already trust.

Trading historyTrade terms

Step 2 · Sell

Sell into the market you know, with a coach and a peer group alongside.

CoachingCommunity

Step 3 · Repay

Repay when the goods are sold, not on a bank's calendar.

Settled when soldConfirmed on WhatsApp

Step 4 · Grow

Margin held. Profit up. Every completed sales cycle builds a record you own.

Profit, not just volumeYour record

Build a record that shows your progress.

KhonzaOne, our platform in development, will record every order, delivery and repayment as it happens, so the builder sees their margin clearly, the coach advises from evidence, and the record belongs to the builder. In the proof of concept, it starts on WhatsApp.

paperwork optional

KhonzaOne · in development · illustrative

An entrepreneur checking her business on a tablet in a greenhouse

Builder profileIndependent trader · on Khonza terms

Illustrative

Sales cycles6

RepaidOn time

ProfitUp

Sales cycles completed this year

KhonzaOne · My business

Profit per sales cycle

Coach's note Margin held as the batch grew. Confirm the next order before this one is sold.

Khonza nowStock sold. Margin held, profit up. Next order confirmed.

Supplier order confirmed

Profit this sales cycleUp

RepaymentReceived

Khonza 09:41Hongera! Sales cycle 4 complete, profit up.

MarginHeld

and you repay...

when you sell.

...not on a bank's calendar.

When the builder grows,
everyone wins.

Three groups, one system. Each does better when the other two do.

Entrepreneurs

Grow the business you already run.

Order what your customers want, from the supplier you already trust
Settle when you sell, in step with your sales cycle
A coach and peers in the same trade, focused on profit
A record that is yours

Suppliers

Keep your customers. Grow your share of them.

Your customers stay yours
Goods on trade terms, settled when they sell
Know where your growers are winning: prices by region and buyer, product feedback from the field, and a scored view of your book

Funders

Back builders with a record.

Capital that funds productive stock
Short sales cycles that recycle capital
Decisions built on real trading history
Returns and impact from one record

Two ways to invest

Our first project

Kuku Pesa

Proving the model with broiler growers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Kuku means chicken. Pesa means money. Growers get chicks and feed on trade terms from their supplier, and settle when the birds are sold.

Read about Kuku Pesa

Now launching

Two ways to back the builders.

Khonza is raising two different kinds of capital, for two different jobs. Seed capital builds the company and its platform. Fund capital buys the stock that entrepreneurs grow with.

01Seed round open

Build Khonza with us

Impact capital into Khonza Ventures, the company that runs the model.

Who it’s for: Impact investors, foundations, DFIs and family offices with a mandate for micro-entrepreneur development across Africa.
What it funds: The team, the KhonzaOne platform, coaching and community, and launching each new supply chain.
What you back: The operator: a business earning a share of supplier margin as the model scales.

Start a seed conversation

02Being structured

Fund the stock

Capital into a working-capital fund that finances the stock entrepreneurs buy from their suppliers.

Who it’s for: Capital investors looking for short-cycle exposure to productive stock, with impact measured from the same record.
What it funds: Stock on trade terms, settled when the goods are sold, recycling every sales cycle.
How it earns: A capital charge paid by Khonza from supplier margin, plus treasury yield on capital not yet deployed.

Register interest

Investor conversations only. Nothing on this site is an offer of shares, units in a fund or financial advice. The working-capital fund is being structured and is not yet open to investment.

Africa is already building.We back the builders.

Whether you run a business, supply a hundred of them or want to fund the next thousand, we would like to hear from you.

Write to hello@khonza.com Investor conversations

Get in touch