The first ACE warehouse receipt was issued by Farmers World in 2011 to Lawrence Chikhasu, a small trader who deposited 14.5MT of maize.

Mr. Chikhasu immediately requested finance so he could go and buy more maize. No banks were on board at this time, so ACE, eager to show the potential of the Warehouse Receipt System, scraped together what little funds it had and disbursed MWK 261,000 — 60% of the market value.

Mr. Chikhasu managed to aggregate a total of 40MT and sold about half to the World Food Programme on a Bid Volume Only auction and the other half to a private sector buyer, earning a profit of 18% after storage and finance costs had been settled.

Only six receipts were issued in 2011, but with an average profit of 30%, everyone was very excited. All made money: the warehouse operator, the financier, ACE, and the traders. The fundamentals had been proven.