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Tgebana grow is a credit system for purchases at gebana. You top up an amount that you can later use flexibly for orders in our online shop.
Today, many of our customers only pay once their order arrives. For fresh fruit and vegetables, several months can pass between the order and the payment. During this time, costs are already being incurred, both for us and for the family farmers. We offset this partly through pre-financing harvests, for which we take out bank loans. This costs us a lot of money in interest every year.
gebana grow lives from the community. Many customers top up credit for future purchases. This makes us less dependent on banks when pre-financing harvests. In doing so, we create financial flexibility to grow sustainably as gebana and to contribute, in the long term, to our impact goals. That is what more money for the field means to us.
Our challenges
01
We pay for harvests months in advance
Many months pass between growing, harvesting, and payment from our customers.
02
We pay high bank interest
Every year, we pay over CHF 100,000 in bank interest for fresh fruit that our customers buy on invoice.
Three questions for Michael Brenner, gebana's Chief Financial Officer
What's the idea behind gebana grow, and what does gebana want to finance with the money paid in? No one knows this better than gebana's Chief Financial Officer, Michael Brenner.
«We simply want to have money available to support family farmers throughout the year. Ideally, the money should flow as directly as possible between customers and the people who produce our food.»
Why should I, as a customer, buy gebana grow credit?
In my view, the most important argument is the idea behind gebana grow. In everyday life, we buy something in a shop without realising that, even before that purchase, someone already needed money to produce what we're buying. In our case, that's the family farmers. In Burkina Faso, we can't tell a family farmer that they'll only get their money once we've received payment for the cashews from our customers. The family farmer must receive the money at the latest when they deliver the cashews to us. With gebana grow, we close part of this gap and bring our customers and producers closer together. Our customers support this idea with their grow credit.
How does gebana use my money until my next purchase?
We primarily use this money to pre-finance harvests. This way, the money our customers pay in works towards turning gebana's vision into reality, instead of sitting unused in a bank account. It's important to understand that we already pre-finance harvests today. To do this, we regularly take out loans and pay interest accordingly. With gebana grow, we want to reduce this interest, become more financially independent in the long run, and enable a more direct relationship between producers and consumers.
How does gebana guarantee that the money I've paid in will really be available for my purchase?
Since we don't repay our customers' money but deliver food instead, this question doesn't really arise. As long as we have goods available, customers are guaranteed to receive value for their money, whenever they want it.
More questions?
How gebana grow works
With gebana grow, funds become available to us earlier. This means we need fewer bank loans to finance growing, harvesting and transport. As a result, a larger share of the money stays within the supply chain, and less flows into interest and fees.
No. gebana grow is a credit balance for future purchases in the gebana online shop – not a savings or investment product. The benefit is granted once, when you purchase a credit package. There is no interest and no return.
Credit packages and benefit
The following credit packages are currently available:
- You pay in CHF/EUR 495 and receive a gebana grow credit worth CHF/EUR 500.
- You pay in CHF/EUR 985 and receive a gebana grow credit worth CHF/EUR 1’000.
- You pay in CHF/EUR 1’960 and receive a gebana grow credit worth CHF/EUR 2’000.
No. You can only choose one of the three available credit packages.
When you purchase a credit package, you receive additional credit. Depending on the package, this corresponds to a benefit of between 1 percent and 2 percent. This benefit is credited directly at the time of purchase and is immediately available to you for future purchases.
With gebana grow, funds become available to us earlier. This reduces our financing costs and payment fees. We pass part of this benefit directly on to our customers.
Yes. Your credit remains linked to your customer account and can be used at any time for purchases in the gebana online shop.
gebana has existed since 1998. For more than 25 years, we have been pre-financing growing, harvesting and supply chains, and working with long-standing partners in the countries of origin.
However, as with any prepayment made to a company, there is a residual risk : should gebana unexpectedly become insolvent, a loss of the credit cannot be ruled out.
Validity, credit and shopping
Yes. For us to manage your credit and take it into account automatically when you place an order, you need a gebana customer account in our shop.
If you don't have an account yet, you can easily create one: click the account icon in the top right, then click “Create new account”. Once registered, you can use gebana grow and manage your credit.
Choose a credit package and complete the purchase using one of the available payment methods. The credit is then added to your customer account and can be used directly for future purchases.
gebana grow can be used for purchases in our online shop. At checkout, select gebana grow as the payment method and pay for your order using your available credit.
It cannot be used in the gebana store in Zurich or at other points of sale and resellers.
Yes. Your credit can be used for as many orders as you like, until it is used up.
No. An order is paid either entirely with gebana grow or entirely with another payment method.
In that case, you must first top up your credit or choose another available payment method. Both options are available once your basket contains items. Once you have successfully topped up your credit or changed your payment method, you can continue with your purchase.
gebana grow can be used for almost all the products in the gebana online shop – including discounted products. Fruit and vegetable subscriptions are excluded.
Yes. You can use your credit to send orders to a different delivery address. To do this, enter the address of the person the order should be delivered to under Delivery address at checkout.
Credit balance, term and refunds
You can find your current credit balance at any time in your customer account. You can access it via the account icon in the top right of the gebana online shop.
No. gebana grow does not top up automatically. You decide for yourself whether and when you want to purchase another credit package.
If an order paid for with gebana grow is cancelled, the corresponding amount will be refunded to you by bank transfer.
No. gebana grow is intended as credit for future purchases. A refund of the amount paid in is not possible.