Goat Aggregator Enterprises (GAE) is part of the Mercy Corps implemented USAID-funded Resilience in Pastoral Areas (RiPA-North) programme in Ethiopia. It aims to transform the way that pastoralists and agro-pastoralists interact with supply chains. The business model innovation focuses on ‘mini collectors’ who develop new buying relationships with village-level producers and provide goats for regional level traders. 

The GAEs act as the key link in RiPA North’s Livestock Marketing Model (LMM), engaging in adapted partnerships and expanded business relationships both ‘up’ and ‘down’ ‘the value chain. A marketing model with an element of ‘integration’ between actors and the use of agents to reach the ‘last-mile’ is a different way of working in areas of Ethiopia where RiPA is present.