Interview: David Gaxiola Gallardo

David Gaxiola is a young entrepreneur who runs Agricompra.com, a digital platform that seeks to become one of the main areas of purchase and sale of agriculture inputs, by connecting manufacturers, marketers, and clients.

David has been working in agriculture product distribution for over five years, which allowed him to learn about the sector needs, and in 2017, chooses to create the agricompra.com platform.

1. Would you mind sharing with us a bit of your professional experience?

I started in 2010 when I was 19, and studying in Mexico City. My brother Gerardo had the fuss for entrepreneurship, and we developed an advertising directory for the Santa Fe area, where we sold 24 advertising spaces to companies with delivery service in the area, from restaurants to basic services such as locksmiths, plumbing, and more.

After this project, we decided to venture into the gastronomic industry, and opened a Sinaloa-style taco restaurant in Mexico City. Over the months, we realized that this project took a lot of time from us and chose to focus a 100% on our studies. It was a tough decision, as this was a promising project.

Then in 2014, we started distributing Macrobacter, an organic product based on phytobeneficial microorganisms in order to restore agriculture soils, and this is where I started to venture into this sector. From 2014 to 2018, I was a direct distributor of this product, and this allowed me to understand and learn about the needs existing in the industry, in order to make the commercial relationship between suppliers and growers more efficient.

This is how in October 2017, Agricompra.com was born, and Misael Gutiérrez Llanos joined the team later on. He has been a key player in technological and marketing development of the project, and is currently a partner of the company.

2. What is Agricompra.com and what are the main services it offers?

Currently, Agricompra.com is a digital platform that acts as a meeting point between suppliers and growers; where these can access the supply of inputs, their pricing, experiences of other growers, as well as contacting and making purchase requests to the various registered suppliers.

However, we are working on turning the platform into more than that: a marketing tool; where negotiations and transactions are carried out through the same; by optimizing, facilitating, and organizing in this manner the buying and selling processes, for the various participants of the agriculture industry.

Also, it works as a source of true and timely information on pricing, news, new products, events, among others.

3. What is the technology behind Agricompra?

Agricompra uses cutting-edge technologies in each module it comprises. It is mounted on high-speed processing servers and designed to function as a progressing web app, that is, to operate in low-level internet connections. It also has transaction encryption certificates to ensure the safety of our clients.

4. Are there other companies in the world specialized in online sales of inputs in the agriculture sector?

There are some, mostly in other countries, which have made progress in its catalog and operation; however, they operate as online direct sales stores, where the sole provider is the owner of the platform.

Agricompra.com is different: We are looking to offer an open space for all the participants in the sector, a digital platform where the various input and service suppliers get their products published , so they may carry out their negotiations and make business connections with growers across Mexico and, eventually, other parts of the world.  

We may think of Agricompra.com as the digital market of the agriculture sector.

5. You think you might be considered as the “Amazon” of the sector?

I like to think more that we are a combination between Google and Alibaba in the sector.

Google, because one of our main purposes is to provide fast and reliable access to information to all the participants in the sector.

Alibaba, because we are a platform designed mostly for B2B transactions rather than B2C, such as Amazon.

6. What type of support does this platform offer to growers?

The platform will be a very important ally of the modern grower, a tool that may be used as his very own system of trading, purchases, access to information, management of expenses and investments, as well as, eventually, marketing of his products.

7. In your opinion, how important is innovation for companies in Mexico?

I consider innovation a matter as important as a factor of permanence and transcendence or disappearance.

8. How do you visualize the agricultural sector in the next ten years and what will be the main changes?

I visualize an increasingly competitive agricultural sector, where growers must implement processes of continuous improvement to remain relevant and competitive in the sector. The main factors for competitiveness in agricultural companies are as follows:

1. Technology implementation: in everything and for everything.

2. Brand building: selling the products as if they were iPhones, creating a brand like Apple does.

3. Access to new markets: staying alert of opportunities on what to produce and for whom.

9. Why should agricultural companies in Sinaloa begin to see agriculture as a collaborative activity?

Agricultural industry is becoming increasingly competitive and globalized. Market trends are changing very fast, and companies from Sinaloa must adapt to these changes in order to continue as relevant players in a global environment.

The collaboration between all the players in the fruit and vegetable sector from Sinaloa, from growers to marketers, is essential to be able to offer world-class products. Being united, we have more possibilities to grow in matters of technology, training and brand creation.

I believe that growers from Sinaloa should bet on developing a state brand which represents them globally, just as Avocados from Mexico or Cherries from Chile did, which have helped promoting sales of their products exponentially across the world.

 10. What is the importance of certifications for agricultural companies?

Certifications help agricultural companies striving in their constant improvement of their activities and processes. This continuous improvement allows them to reach the highest quality and food safety standards, which has increasingly become a requirement for marketing their products.

This is why I believe that certifications play a key role in competitiveness for agricultural companies, since they are part of a market where efficiency of their processes and reliability of markets in their food safety and quality standards are determining factors.

11. Anything else you would like to add?

I would like to thank you for this space to talk about our new project and the attention provided. We would also like to invite the community to get involved in entrepreneurial projects designed to promote the agricultural industry, since implementing technological tools in the activity will bring the possibility to promote the industry and impact on collective benefits of global interest, such as improving the quality of food we consume, production, and profitability of these foods, as well as sustainability of resources being used for it.

Thanks to Eleven Rivers for the support, keep it up! This is going to be a great year.