Kiungo: a system that brings value closer to where it starts.
Kiungo, Swahili for "link", is the system Consumatech is pioneering to build and strengthen the links within communities and between them.
Shops, people and devices become points where demand comes in and products and services go out. Combined, that demand becomes buying power: value moves closer to where it starts, and value chains are rebuilt from the bottom up.
We can't see what our own communities need, or what they can supply
No one has a clear picture of what a community wants and needs. No one has a clear picture of what the people in and around it can make, grow and supply. So the two rarely find each other.
Businesses with money to spare fill that gap. They make things far away, push them through a long chain, and add a premium. We pay it, because we can't see another way.
The Kiungo system makes it visible. Shops, people and devices are linked into a network where what a community needs and what it can supply shows up live. Once that is known, the two can be matched close to home.
The story of two tomato seeds
Would you buy tomatoes from a large commercial farm far away, or from overseas, when they're being grown in and around your community?
2 minutes 30 seconds · no narration · English captions · Watch on YouTube ↗ (opens youtube.com)
The story in words
Two tomato seeds. Two journeys.
The first seed
The first seed is planted far away.
Its tomatoes travel a long way.
They are cleaned, boxed, dried and canned.
At last they reach the community.
The community pays, and eats.
The seed is thrown away.
The line ends here.
The second seed
The second seed is planted close to home.
It grows. It bears fruit.
It goes to a kitchen nearby.
To a caterer, who cooks with it.
To a local factory, which dries and cans it.
The seeds are saved, and planted again.
The loop begins again.
A line that ends. Or a loop that feeds itself.
On the line, value passes through. Then it leaves.
On the loop, every step adds value. And the value stays.
Most communities can't see what they need, or what they can supply. So the loop never forms.
Kiungo links one community to the next. Each loop that joins lights up.
Loops join into bigger loops, so what people need meets what they can make, grow and supply.
How the Kiungo system works
Link
Shops, community marketers and devices become points of presence: fixed, mobile and digital.
Listen
Each point is where information comes in: what a community wants and needs, and what it can make, grow and supply. Data is aggregated and anonymised, and never sold as individual records.
Leverage
Once demand and supply can be seen, they can be matched close to home. For what still has to come from further away, a community's combined demand becomes buying power.
A system, made of a network and platforms
Kiungo is a system: a way of doing things. For it to live, it needs a network of linked shops, people and devices, and platforms that run on it. Two platforms are here. More will follow.
kasiPOS
How a shop becomes a point in the Kiungo system.
The trade operating system for Africa's general trade. Every shop counter, connected to its value chain. Live in South Africa and the DRC.
Get kasiPOS ↗ (opens kasipos.com)Kasipages
How a new business starts in the Kiungo system.
Start your own business, right here in your community.
Register your interest ↗ (opens kasipages.co.za)A system like this needs its people first
For the Kiungo system to live, it needs a network. A network is only useful once enough people are in it, so we're gathering the people first, community by community and country by country.
Joining is free. It commits you to nothing. You can leave at any time.
The Kiungo system comes alive on 1 January 2030. Be part of it before then.
Joining is free. It commits you to nothing. You can leave at any time.