Ganaz

Ganaz simplifies people management in agriculture and food processing through a software platform that saves employers time, effort, and money.

Hannah Freeman

Founder & CEO

Location:

Seattle, WA

Year Founded:

2017

Industry

Agriculture, information services, information technology

What first inspired you to build Ganaz?
I spent almost 15 years working with farmworkers, growers, brands and retailers and getting to know the needs, desires and fears of each party. I saw a huge opportunity to make life better for workers and make businesses more profitable by connecting employers with workers.

Why is now the time for Ganaz to exist?
80% of the global working population – 2.7 billion people – are “deskless” workers, with agriculture making up the largest single segment at nearly 900 million. In the last five years or so, the majority of these workers got their first cell phone, and many of those are smartphones. On both smartphones and dumbphones, there’s a huge opportunity to connect employers and workers with easy to use systems that can help them find each other, manage their work, get onboarded, trained, paid and even sen

Who do you look to for inspiration in your field and why?
I love walking the fields with growers and workers. They are my inspiration because they’re creative, practical and real.

What is your favorite life hack?
Biking to work. I find it very hard to make time for exercise on a weekday, so getting it in on my commute is awesome. It’s a very pleasant ride even in the Seattle rain.

What is your favorite work hack?
Organizing my tasks in Trello

What’s one piece of advice you would give a fellow entrepreneur?
Stay flexible. Your original idea probably isn’t exactly what will work. Launch something quickly, then iterate quickly.

What do you want to be known for?
I want the world’s most vulnerable workers to breath a little easier, to be able to work in safety and take care of their families. And I want the businesses that employ them to be stronger and more profitable. I want to be known for helping align these seemingly opposed interests.

Words to live by?
“If we have no peace, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa