About SokoNexus
Making good African suppliers easy to trust
Soko is Swahili for market; a nexus is a connection. SokoNexus connects European buyers with export-ready suppliers in Ghana and Kenya, and keeps the evidence that makes those connections safe to act on.
Why it exists
Many capable exporters in Ghana and Kenya never reach European buyers, because those buyers cannot check claims from far away. They stay with the origins they know. Exporters repeat the same paperwork for every buyer and rarely learn why a deal did not happen.
SokoNexus turns that paperwork into one checked record, matches it to real buyer requirements with reasons shown, and records what happens next.
How we work
- Evidence before introductions
- A buyer sees what has been checked, by whom and when, before anyone spends money on samples.
- People decide, software assists
- Only a named human reviewer can mark a claim as verified. Software never awards verification.
- Suppliers own their data
- A Trust Passport is shown to a buyer only with the supplier's consent, and the supplier sees who has looked.
- No invented numbers
- Every figure on this site names its source and date. Illustrations are labelled as such.
Founder
Lycias Zembe
I grew up in a farming family in Zimbabwe, and I have seen how much a harvest's value depends on reaching the right buyer.
I am a medical virologist by training. Science taught me to trust only evidence that can be checked, and to record how every result was reached. SokoNexus is built on the same discipline: every claim shows its evidence, who checked it and when.
I have since added an Executive MBA programme at IESE Business School, and training in applied artificial intelligence and data science at MIT. I use these to build the matching and market tools, while every verification decision stays with a person.
I live in Switzerland, one of the two markets SokoNexus serves, and I run the pilot myself. If you apply, you will deal with me directly.
Write to me directly: lyciasz@sokonexus.com
Take part in the pilot
Buyers, suppliers, partners and programmes are welcome.