Growing up in Serem, Vihiga County, we watched the women and men who fed our families struggle every single day. Mama mboga carrying heavy loads to market. Mama kibanda rising before the sun to prepare food. Farmers trekking kilometres to sell their harvest.

They worked harder than anyone. Yet they earned less, reached fewer customers, and remained invisible to the digital economy that was transforming Kenya around them.

We were young. We were students, graduates, hustlers ourselves. But we had one thing our community's traders didn't: we understood technology. And we had a question burning inside us — what if we used it for them?

Serem Market had always been the heartbeat of our community — vibrant on Wednesdays and Saturdays, buzzing with life, color, and commerce. But trade was limited by who could physically show up, how far word could travel, and who had transport that day.

The products were excellent. The vendors were talented, knowledgeable, hardworking. The only thing missing was reach — a bridge between Serem's traders and the customers who needed them.

We realised: the market was not broken. It just wasn't free yet. Soko Huru — Free Market — was about to change that.