SpaceAI: Dairy Digitisation & Cooperative Enablement
SpaceAI is digitising Kenya’s dairy value chain by connecting farmers, cooperatives, finance providers, agro-input suppliers, transporters and processors through one integrated platform. The model combines WhatsApp-based tools, AI-powered analytics, digital milk tracking, automated payments, credit scoring and supply-chain data to improve how milk is produced, collected, financed, moved and processed. The platform currently serves 40,000+ farmers, with the wider model designed around six stages of the dairy chain: farm, cooperative, finance, agro-inputs, transport and processing.
IDI's Role & Contribution
Our work focused on designing the dairy system around the realities of smallholder farmers and cooperatives. Rather than digitising one isolated transaction, the model connects the full value chain: farmers can capture data and access recommendations through WhatsApp; cooperatives digitise milk collection, quality verification and payments; farm data supports financing decisions; and downstream actors gain better traceability and visibility across the chain. The approach combines service design, behavioural insight and AI-enabled infrastructure to make the system easier to use while strengthening transparency, trust and decision-making.
"The real opportunity was not simply to digitise milk collection, but to turn everyday dairy activity into usable data. Once production, deliveries, payments and farmer activity become visible, that data can support better decisions across the entire ecosystem — from advisory and cooperative management to credit, inputs and market access. This makes the cooperative more than a collection point; it becomes a digital and financial hub connecting farmers to the wider dairy economy."
Our Approach
A structured, collaborative design methodology implemented across six sequential stages.
Outputs & Results
Measurable outcomes achieved through the programme's core activities.
rise in cooperative milk volume
reduction in milk collection costs
farmers engaged and directly impacted
agent conversations per day