Dalatek is a startup that creates an agricultural platform to facilitate the export process.

Dildora Atajanova, 30 years old, city — Tashkent, CEO and co-founder of @dalatek.uz.

The Idea Behind the Product

Before entering the startup world, I was involved in the agricultural products business. We exported fruits and vegetables. At that time, I had to control many different processes manually. This business lacked systematicity. As a result, like other exporters, I sometimes lost goods.

In agribusiness, you have to perform the same actions every day. We realized that we could develop a platform that would automatically perform tasks that previously had to be done manually.

Initially, we wanted to create a marketplace that farmers and exporters could use. However, we were unsuccessful. After studying the experiences of our peers, we understood that such a system only increased the number of stages required for exporting goods. Therefore, we decided to first focus on educational courses for agrotechnologists, and then start building the marketplace.

About the Startup's Development

I was invited to the project as a consultant. Later, when the company was being registered, I was promoted to co-founder and CEO. At that time, I did not yet have the knowledge required of a startup director. Therefore, the last two years were dedicated not only to building the platform but also to becoming a true leader.

One of the important decisions in the startup's development was refusing to use the services of third-party development companies. I decided that with the help of good programmers, we could build our platform ourselves. Through the International Visitor Leadership Program, I traveled to the USA, where I met developers from Africa. They expressed a desire to participate in our project. One of them became our co-founder and CTO. He excels in the role of head of the technical department.

Target Audience

Our target audience consists of young people from rural areas, exporters, and farmers.

We help young people by providing online courses where they learn a new profession. Farmers use the agri-platform to find clients, while exporters can read reviews about suppliers.

Incubation and Acceleration Programs

Accelerators we have completed:

— UZVC

— Cartier Women Startup Academy.

Currently, I am participating in the Plug and Play program. We were also selected to participate in the Silkway Accelerator from Astana Hub.

Challenges

There is a noticeable problem with personnel: out of 10 people, only 1 turns out to be a strong employee.

I wouldn't say we have high turnover, but finding the right personnel takes time.

Achievements

During 2022–2023, we received grants from the Ministry of Agriculture and from the International Organization IFAT.

Additionally, we created a course for technologists. It is designed so that young people living in regions and oblasts can become agrotechnologists—specialists who organize export processes, from the field and transportation of goods to the cold storage facility.

Today, we have more than 130 students who have completed training or are currently undergoing it. We also received a grant from the Yosh Fermerlari Kengashi: 210 young people had the opportunity to study with us for free.

Plans

The main goal is to move to the second stage of our platform—the marketplace. Then, exporters or stores will be able to order agrotechnologist services through our platform. This will make life easier for businesses: they can view specialist ratings and read reviews from other clients.

We also plan to scale into the African market.