How a group buy works

Before any contract is signed, three things have to be in place. Your company file: registrations valid, a real requirement in writing, and a plan for lifting the cargo from the port. Your permits: the import permit and the plant-health permit, and in Kenya the local-wheat purchase the permit depends on. Your finance: a bank letter or facility that covers your parcel, so the letter of credit can be opened in time.

Most delays at Mombasa start with a buyer who ordered first and sorted the paperwork later, so Hakika checks all three before you join, not after. Hakika's people walk you through each item; CargoCheck receives every document by e-mail, checks it against the checklist, and tells you what is missing and what to fix by when. Pass, and your parcel goes into the next cargo. Not ready yet, and you join the one after, with a clear list. No miller is put on a vessel it isn't ready for, which is what protects everyone else on it.

Hakika combines your requirement with those of other ready buyers into one cargo a supplier will quote, typically 50,000 tonnes. First you get the landed-cost comparison: the delivered price at Mombasa by origin and protein level, with freight, duty, storage and finance added, so you see the real number behind the futures quote. Then Hakika asks suppliers for firm offers and puts them side by side. We also time the order: our vessel log and every member's stock position tell us when the group should fix the cargo so it lands when the queue is short and the mills need it.

An established international trader is the seller and charters the vessel. You hold your own contract, your own letter of credit, your own permit and your own release at the terminal. Hakika never takes title to your grain and never sits between you and your supplier. What changes is the price: a full vessel of pre-vetted buyers is a cargo a supplier wants, and it prices it that way.

From contract to discharge there are around twenty-five documents and a dozen deadlines: the letter of credit, pre-shipment inspection, bills of lading, certificates of origin and quality, insurance, the customs entry, the storage agreement, the release instructions. One mismatch — a port name spelt differently from the letter of credit, a certificate issued against the wrong permit — and the bank rejects the documents or the terminal holds your grain.

CargoCheck catches those before they cost money: every document goes to your cargo file by e-mail, is checked against your contract, your letter of credit and the checklist, and you get a plain list of what is in, missing or wrong. Hakika's people watch the rest: the vessel's arrival window, the customs entry lodged before berthing, trucks or rail booked, each release signed off when the tranche is paid. Your cargo berths without waiting, clears without surprises, and leaves the terminal within the free days. No software and no extra staff on your side.

When the cargo closes you get your performance rating: a number out of 100 built from third-party records, not opinions. Permit in on time, finance in place before loading, customs ready at berthing, grain lifted within the free days, supplier and each tranche paid when due, loan repaid as agreed. You see where you earned or lost points and what to do differently next time. Nobody else sees it unless you choose to show it.

A good rating returns your reserve, lowers your fee on the next cargo, gives you first call on the next buy, and starts earning you better terms from suppliers, banks and the port.