It’s 8:30am on a Saturday morning in Sinthiou Malème, Senegal, and the market is bustling with people buying and selling vegetables, coffee, clothes, and almost every other item you can imagine. Across the street, the green doors to myAgro’s boutique are flung open in preparation for a day of scratch card sales as farmers save up to buy their myAgro packets of farming supplies. Maqui Ndiaye, one of myAgro’s six field agents in Senegal, is responsible for managing the boutique. When he opens the boutique each Saturday morning, he hangs a large banner that reads, “Buy your cards here! Grow more with myAgro!” From the banner hang large, numbered peanuts – each one representing one week left in the savings period. Each week, Maqui pulls off one more peanut, counting down toward the end of savings.
Once Maqui sets up, farmers begin to arrive to say hello and purchase savings cards. At least two field agents run sales at the boutique every Saturday, but most weeks all six will be present, chatting with farmers from their villages and congratulating them on their savings progress.
Senegalese farmers can save with myAgro in two ways. They can visit a local vendor assistant to purchase savings scratch cards in their own village, or they can drop by the boutique in Sinthiou Malème and buy cards there. Many farmers travel to Sinthiou Malème on Saturdays to buy and sell items at the market, so a stop at the myAgro boutique to buy a scratch card can be a convenient addition to their trip.
However, card sales are only part of the reason why the boutique is such a central place for myAgro’s operations. Because so many farmers from different villages pass through each week, it also presents an excellent opportunity for us to learn more about our farmers and their habits. As such, the field agents also run surveys and tests at the boutique.
Whatever the activity for the week, Saturdays at the boutique form an integral part of myAgro’s work in Senegal. With music playing and attaya (Senegalese tea) brewing, the boutique is a place where farmers add to their savings, get recognized for their accomplishments, and share information that helps myAgro to grow – all while going about their weekend business.
