Closing the 60-day gap: Azam Pasha (LinkedIn), CEO and co-founder of Maalexi, says agricultural exporters can take up to 60 days to receive payments for their shipments. This can mean a massive disruption in their own investment cycle and capital hurdles that stifle their activity.

He and his co-founder Rohit Majhi (LinkedIn) have been working on making the process a little more streamlined for both farmers and buyers alike, with a digital platform that connects SME exporters with international buyers, provides real-time monitoring, and gives farmers their money upfront.

We sat down with Pasha for this morning’s My Morning Routine to get to know how he manages the company, what’s next for Maalexi, and his life outside of work. Every Friday, My Morning Routine goes behind the scenes with a successful member of the community to see how they start their day, while throwing in some business questions for fun. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: What led you to the SME financing industry in the first place? How did you start Maalexi?

AP: Over the past 25 years, I’ve worked closely with small farmers and SMEs involved in food production, and have been based out of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. I found that a lot of farmers and SMEs couldn’t access fair prices and export to international markets.

A small agri-trader and buyers in different countries struggle to work with each other because of distance, and uncertainty about the shipment’s safety and timeliness. It can take up to 60 days for an exporter to be paid, creating a gap in capital and preventing them from investing for the next season.

That’s when we decided to build our platform, acting as an all-in-one digital agent for agri-trade. Our AI sensors check quality and the IoT trackers in the shipping containers show it arrived safely. That data then acts as the collateral, and we secure the goods in an approved warehouse. We use our dp to pay sellers almost immediately once the goods arrive, and now around 451 agri-trade SMEs are operating through our platform.

E: Where is Maalexi currently based?

AP: I am based in between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and my co-founder is between Abu Dhabi and Bangalore, as we also have an office in India. Around 50% of our commodities and procurement flow out of India, so the zero-duty UAE and India corridor is important for us.

E: Tell us about your new agricultural asset token exchange. Why does the world need one?

AP: Maatex is the world’s first agri tokenized exchange that takes physical food sitting in a warehouse and turns it into a digital token to provide the buyer with real-time tracking. A foreign buyer can get instant ownership of the product without physically possessing it.

We are currently running a fundraising round for its rollout. We’re aiming to close the funding round in the next three months, perhaps by March or April, so hopefully the fully regulated exchange will be live by either next May or June. We’re looking to be licensed by the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), and also filed a patent on the technology in the US. In the future, we’re hoping to expand into Saudi Arabia, as well as work with US-exporters.

E: What is the plan in terms of physical warehouse infrastructure to support the exchange?

AP: Right now we’ve contracted DP World as our main logistics space provider in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port, and on the shipping line side, we’re currently in talks to partner with other global logistics and shipping providers.

E: What does a typical workday look like for you?

AP: I usually wake up at around 6:30 in the morning. My workday starts with having a call with my operations and sales teams about the plan for the day. Then I spend some time focusing on our active investor discussions and also on customer engagement.

Later in the day, I like to spend some time reading something on the tech or economic side of how things are shaping up in the world, as it’s linked to our business. At the end of the day, I like having time for myself, to go out for some exercise, and just talk with friends and get to hear about new developments in their own industries.

E: How do you like to relax and switch off when work is done?

AP: One thing I try now is disconnecting from all business-related things on Sundays and spending time with my family instead. I prioritize having meals with them, and any kind of activity that brings the whole family together, like cycling. Different documentaries that aren’t related to business help me unwind.

I like researching different fields that are new to me and writing in-depth papers on them, like genetics, biomimicry, or blockchains. I’ve taken up courses and degrees, and have studied at Stanford, Wharton, and most recently Harvard two years back. My research papers are listed on the SSRN journal, as well as on the Triple Helix peer-reviewed journal.

E: What’s next for you on a personal and professional level?

AP: A lot of my time will be dedicated to developing Maatex and looking at developing new variants of product offerings on the exchange. I’d also like to look at bringing in an investor network, and developing some derivative products to offer alongside buying contracts.

E: What’s one piece of bad advice you’ve been given and how did it impact you?

AP:I think the worst advice I was ever given was to pursue something more safe and predictable. This kind of advice didn’t work with me because I believe we have to take risks in life and build things that are different from the status quo. There are problems in the world that can only be solved by experimenting and building a solution that’s never been built before.

Azam’s recommendations:

What he’s reading: Recently, I’ve enjoyed Ray Dalio’s Principles for Dealing with The Changing World Order, as well as Chip War by Chris Miller and Biomimicry by Janine Benyus.

For films and podcasts, two of my favorite films are The Big Short and Rising Phoenix, and I like listening to Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast as well as Bankless and Acquired.

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