Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 August 2026

This policy explains how Ekukhuleni Labs (Pty) Ltd ("we," "Umlimisi") collects, uses, stores and protects your information. It applies to all users of the Umlimisi platform (web, SMS and USSD). This policy is written with reference to the Eswatini Data Protection Act, 2022.

1. Who We Are

Ekukhuleni Labs (Pty) Ltd is the data controller for information collected through Umlimisi. Contact: support@ekukhulenilabs.com, +268 7953 1182.

2. What We Collect

Data	Purpose	Required?
Phone number	Account identity, login, SMS notifications	Yes
Name, farm name, region	Personalisation, location-relevant advice	Yes
PIN (stored as hash)	Authentication	Yes
Crop cycles, activities, sales, expenses	Farm management, schedules, profit tracking	You choose what to record
Photos (crop inspection, progress)	AI diagnosis, visual record	Optional
Livestock records (herds, batches, health)	Animal management, reminders	You choose what to record
AI chat messages	Provide farming advice	Optional
Page views, device type	Platform improvement, usage analytics	Automatic

3. How We Use Your Data

• Provide the service: schedules, reminders, AI diagnosis, market prices, record-keeping.
• Improve the platform: understand usage patterns, fix problems, develop features.
• Send notifications: schedule reminders, disease alerts, weather warnings (via SMS).
• Aggregated, anonymised reporting: regional crop statistics, disease trends — never identifying individual farmers without consent.

4. What We Do NOT Do

• We do not sell your personal or farm-level data to any third party.
• We do not share identifiable farm data with buyers, financiers, insurers, government or any institution without your specific, informed consent.
• We do not use your production data to train AI models without separate, revocable consent.
• We do not share your financial information (revenue, costs, profit) with extension officers or other service providers — production data is shown as volume/yield only.

5. Data Sharing — Only With Your Action

Your data is shared with others only when you take an explicit action:

• Share-link reports: you generate a link and choose who to send it to. You can revoke it at any time.
• Marketplace enquiries: you choose what to include before submitting.
• Input purchases: only the minimum transaction data (product, quantity) is shared with the supplier.
• Programme participation: if you join a cooperative, finance or government programme, you will be shown exactly what data is shared before confirming.

6. Data Storage and Security

• Data is stored in AWS (Amazon Web Services) in encrypted databases.
• PINs are stored as cryptographic hashes — we cannot see your PIN.
• Access is controlled by session tokens with 30-day expiry.
• We use HTTPS for all data transmission.
• Only authorised Ekukhuleni Labs personnel can access production systems.

Where your data is processed: Umlimisi's servers are located in the United States (AWS region us-east-1) — outside Eswatini and outside the SADC region. By creating an account and agreeing to this policy, you consent to your data being transferred to and processed there. We apply the same security measures described in this policy no matter where your data is processed.

If a data breach happens: we will notify the Eswatini Information and Communications Commission and affected users without undue delay, as required by the Data Protection Act, 2022.

7. Data Retention

• Your account and farm data is retained while your account is active.
• If you request deletion, we will remove your identifiable data within 30 days, subject to any legal retention requirements.
• Anonymised, aggregated data (e.g. regional crop statistics) may be retained after account deletion.

8. Your Rights

Under the Eswatini Data Protection Act, 2022, you have the right to:

• Access: request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction: ask us to correct inaccurate data.
• Deletion: request deletion of your account and data.
• Withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time.
• Object: object to processing you believe is unlawful.
• Portability: request your data in a portable format.

To exercise any right, contact support@ekukhulenilabs.com or WhatsApp +268 7953 1182.

9. Children

Umlimisi is intended for users aged 18 and above. Users under 18 require the consent of a parent or guardian.

10. Cookies and Analytics

Umlimisi uses localStorage for authentication (session token). We track page views for usage analytics. We do not use third-party advertising trackers.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy. Material changes will be communicated via SMS or in-app notice. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates the current version.

12. Contact and Complaints

Ekukhuleni Labs (Pty) Ltd
Email: support@ekukhulenilabs.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +268 7953 1182

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Eswatini Information and Communications Commissioner (ESCCOM) under the Data Protection Act, 2022.