For inspection companies and certification bodies
The certificates your inspectors issue should be findable five years from now. On this platform, they are.
Commodity Plus is building a certified inspector network across African commodity corridors. Professional inspection companies with trained graders and geographic coverage can apply to join. Assignments are routed automatically. Certificates are digital, immutable, and permanently stored.
How assignments work
Contracts define inspection schedules. The platform assigns your inspectors automatically.
Every contract on Commodity Plus specifies which inspections are required and at which stages — farm level, collection point, warehouse intake, pre-shipment. When a fulfilment milestone triggers an inspection, the platform assigns it to the nearest qualified inspector based on commodity certification, geographic zone, and availability. Assignment volume scales with the platform's transaction volume in your coverage area.
Digital inspection workflow
Commodity-specific checklists. GPS-tagged evidence. Certificates that can't be altered.
Your inspectors use structured mobile checklists built against the relevant international grading standard for each commodity type. Every completed inspection produces a timestamped, geolocated, photo-evidenced digital certificate.
Certificates are stored immutably. They cannot be edited after issuance by anyone — not the inspector, not the trading parties, not platform administrators. Buyers, sellers, banks, and government authorities access inspection records relevant to their transactions directly through the platform.
Performance visibility
Your company's inspection quality is measurable. That's the point.
The platform tracks each inspector's certification volume, commodity coverage, turnaround time, and dispute rate — the percentage of certificates challenged at destination. These metrics are visible to your company's management through a performance dashboard.
When two inspectors grade the same lot differently, the platform flags it for calibration review. Certification expiry dates are tracked and renewal training is triggered automatically. Consistency problems surface as data patterns, not as commercial disputes after the fact.
Payment
Rates agreed before assignment. Payment on certificate submission.
Inspection costs are defined in the buyer-seller contract and allocated to one or both parties. Your company sets its own rate card by commodity, inspection stage, and geographic zone. The platform invoices the responsible party on your behalf when the completed certificate is submitted. You do not negotiate fees with trading parties or chase payment.
What we look for
Requirements for the inspector network.
- Geographic coverage
- Presence in or near major commodity production zones and export corridors — East Africa, West Africa, Great Lakes region, Southern Africa.
- Certified graders
- Commodity-trained inspectors against international standards. ICO Q-graders for coffee. UNECE-trained assessors for fresh produce. Assay-capable laboratories for mineral commodities.
- Digital capability
- The inspection app works offline and syncs on reconnection, but inspectors need to be comfortable with mobile-based digital workflows.
- Professional indemnity
- Insurance appropriate for the value of commodities being certified.
Government grading authorities
National grading corps can integrate with the platform.
Government standards bureaux and phytosanitary authorities with national grading teams can connect their inspectors to the Commodity Plus inspection layer. Certificates carry government authority. Phytosanitary certificate issuance integrates with existing government workflows — a certified shipment triggers the certificate request automatically.
Apply
Three steps.
Submit your company profile — coverage areas, commodity certifications, team size, laboratory capability. We verify credentials and professional indemnity, typically within ten business days. Your team is onboarded to the inspection app with commodity-specific training and a calibration assessment. Assignments begin.