Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Friday join his Rwandan and Ugandan counterparts in the official launch of the East Africa Exchange (EAX).

The private-funded exchange is a regional electronic commodity platform established to link smallholder farmers to agricultural and financial markets to secure competitive prices for their products and facilitate access to funding opportunities.

The Kigali-based exchange will offer smallholder farmers, who are faced with seasonal fluctuation of prices, better access to markets. Commodities exchanges are generally known to improve the net income of farmers through encouraging transparency in pricing and reducing exploitation by middlemen.

“The event to be held in Kigali, Rwanda will also be graced by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni,” said a statement released by public relations firm IMG Kenya.

EAX began operations in 2013, with Paul Kukubo being its founding CEO. Mr Kukubo is the former chief executive of the ICT Board of Kenya and also founder of Kenyan based ICT startup, 3Mice.

The commodities exchange is targeting the 130 million people in the East Africa Community trading bloc which is plagued by poor infrastructure and inefficient distribution channels.

EAX has established an auction facility and spot trading for agricultural and non-agricultural commodities, but will also develop futures trading across East Africa.

The regional exchange has deployed the world’s leading trading technology Nasdaq OMX X-Stream to facilitate e-trading in the local market.

EAX is a subsidiary of Africa Exchange Holdings Ltd (Afex), a joint venture comprised of Berggruen Holdings, Heirs Holdings, and 50 Ventures. It is financially supported through the private investment of Afex and Ngali Holdings, a local investment company in Rwanda.