The government of Ethiopia Friday licensed CropConex, a US coffee trading firm, as the first E-Commerce Platform Operator in the country.The San Francisco-based startup has now finalized preparations to start trading Ethiopian coffee on its supply chain management platform.

This was announced during a joint press briefing that State Minister of Innovation and Technology, Huria Ali, and CEO of CropConex, Brianna Dickey, gave on Thursday.

CropConex will launch the coffee trade online via its namesake coffee traceability and trading platform.

The digital platform aims to create connections across the coffee supply chain – enabling suppliers, buyers, and logistics service providers to efficiently transact.

According to the state minister, the platform will directly connect coffee growers and exporters with buyers, enabling the sector to generate more foreign exchange earnings for Ethiopia.

CropConex will also help Ethiopia’s coffee export trade reach new markets, the state minister said, in addition to expanding the existing ones.

CEO Brianna said CropConex’s main objective is to provide an end-to-end digital solution to improve the fragmented supply chain and weak coffer market and linkages

Coffee supports the livelihoods of more than a quarter of Ethiopians and generates up to 30% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

The digital solutions are expected to boost the country’s plan to increase its coffee farmers’ income by five-fold in 2033.