2011 Project Focus
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Transcript of 2011 Project Focus
profitable for the company
and out growers. It will also
have a huge impact on the fish
industry in Kenya and across
the region. About
1 million finger‐
ings are being
produced every
month of which
about 800,000 of
these are being
sold to the gov‐
ernment for
distribution to
small scale farm‐
ers across Kenya.
This is a partner‐
ship with the
Ministry of Fish‐
eries where the
company is sup‐
plying fingerlings to support
the Government’s program
which is designed to establish
200 fishponds in every district
in Kenya.
Dominion Farms is develop‐
ing a large scale commercial
tilapia business in Western
Kenya that will benefit the
company, employees,
small holder farmers
and consumers.
The project is a highly
innovative, latest
technology, aquacul‐
ture project that will
be a first in East Af‐
rica. The project will
produce large quanti‐
ties of Tilapia for
domestic and export
sales. Over 6,000
smallholders will
benefit from the pro‐
ject as suppliers of
feed and purchasing high
quality sexed tilapia finger‐
lings. In addition, the project
will provide fish stocks, train‐
ing and other inputs that have
the potential to radically
change the fish farming sector
in Kenya and possibly the
region. This project introduces
a highly innovative mecha‐
nism for fish production in
Kenya and the region which
has the potential to be very
Aquaculture practice in Western Kenya.
Milk production in Tanzania.
Tanga Fresh Limited have
invested U.S. $4.5 m in a new
milk processing plant that has
increased their capacity to
process raw milk from 20,000
‐ 50,000 liters per day. This
program includes upgrading
milk collection centers to
improve milk quality, a new
Dairy Farmers Information
System to improve production
levels per cow and a partner‐
ship with others to increase
the number and quality of
dairy cows in the area. Tanga
Fresh is in full swing building
new milk collecting centers. A
lot of thinking was put in the
design of the centers, keeping
them as simple and practical
as possible. Tanga Fresh is
happy to share the design with
others. The project team con‐
stantly tries to identify un‐
tapped milk pockets. An agent
simply starts to collect milk in
cans and when the quantity
proves to be enough an invest‐
ment in cooling facilities can
follow. The Nairobi based
company, Virtual City
(another AECF grantee) came
to study the `Weigh and Pay’
Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, Project focus edition.
Project Focus Edition
Inside this issue;
Dominion Farm‐
Kenya
1
Tanga Fresh‐Tanzania 1‐2
Bennimix Food com‐
pany‐Sierra Leone
2
Splash Mobile Money‐
Sierra Leone
3
Rift Valley Products‐
Kenya Ltd.
3
Project focus edition
What is the AECF.
T he Africa Enterprise Chal‐lenge Fund is a US$ 50‐100
million private sector fund,
backed by some of the biggest
names In development finance
and hosted by the Alliance for a
Greener Revolution in Africa
(AGRA). Our aim is to encourage
private sector companies to com‐
pete for investment support for
their new and innovative ideas.
System of the bigger milk collecting centers of Tanga Fresh Ltd. Many
improvements are possible and Virtual City will start a pilot program
soon. Although the weather conditions have not been too favorable, the
milk supply increase to the Tanga Fresh Factory this year is exceeding the
15% target increase. The project team invited all operators and coopera‐
tive leaders of the milk collecting centers to the factory. Training was
given in how to make maximum use of the new communication system
by telephone messages. The system now reaches about 2,900 farmers.
Page 2 Project Focus Edition
2,685
Number of chil‐
dren who bene‐
fitted from Ben‐
nimix in it’s first
year.
Legume production In Sierra Leone
Bennimix Food Company aims to improve incomes for legume producers in Sierra Leone by linking them to Ben‐
nimix Supply Chain (whose production capacity is set to increase from 60 to 800 MT in 3 years). As a result of the
recently ended civil war, Sierra Leone still struggles to feed her own population. The country relies heavily on imports
and donor aid to meet the nutritional needs of the vulnerable groups, especially children. Bennimix Food Company
sees a business opportunity in the current crisis and would like to expand production, increasing its supply of Ben‐
nimix products to the World Food Programme and others, who in turn distribute these highly nutritious products to
the feeding centers. The project has made progress with upgrading the factory, purchasing new machinery and equip‐
ment and employing new staff.
A new Board has been constituted and met for the first time. A mentoring program is being put in place.
Swahili quote:
`Kwa mkoa wa Tanga, afadhali ng’ombe wa maziwa kwa wa‐
jane badala ya mume, kwa wanajipatia kipato ambacho was‐
inge pata kwa mume`
`A heifer in Tanga is like a husband to a widow’ End product of Tanga Fresh.
Images showing advertising and packaging process of Bennimix end products.
Splash Mobile Money facilitates instant secure
and cheap payments over long distances by mo‐
bile/cell phone banking. Banking the unbanked is
a core focus area for the AECF and thus this project
has a good fit with AECF ‘s aims and objectives. A
pilot launch was undertaken in early 2010 and was
adjudged successfully with the company register‐
ing more than 14,000 customers through 25 agents
across 4 towns. Splash has started the roll‐out
process and by September 2010 had over 60,000
customers with numbers growing fast. The chal‐
lenge now will be for Splash to raise additional
finance to grow the program to real scale in Sierra
Leone and elsewhere. The company has employed
a well qualified CEO with over 15 years experience
in senior management roles with mobile network
operators across Europe, Africa and the Middle
East.
Transactional banking services to the unbanked in Sierra Leone.
performance of the cotton indus‐
try requires that those responsi‐
ble for the growing, marketing,
processing, manufacturing, re‐
search and extension be inte‐
grated to complement each
other . In Kenya, the institutions
responsible for some of these
activities operate in isolation.
This has therefore impacted
negatively on the growth of the
industry. Rift Valley Products,
who run the Salawa ginnery,
are implementing a project to
increase the production of cot‐
ton in the Kerio Valley, where
the ginnery is located, and have
secured commitments from key
stakeholders involved in the
Cotton Industry. Cotton is an
important crop in poverty re‐
duction as it is a major cash
crop in regions where other
crops perform poorly. Progress
during the first year was
seriously affected by the
drought conditions in
Kenya in 2009 ‐ farmers
achieved low yields and
low returns. However,
2009/10 was an excellent
year with good progress in
all aspects of the project.
Reviving the cotton industry in the Kerio Valley
Rift Valley Products Ltd aims
to revive the cotton industry in
the Kerio Valley and then in
Kenya more widely. 8,000 small‐
holder farmers have been con‐
tracted to grow cotton in an area
where cotton growing has de‐
clined over many years. New
extension and other systems
have been used to revitalize the
cotton industry. The project has
formed a steering committee
consisting of all stakeholders
(farmers,
pesticide
and input
suppliers,
credit
providers )
that will
direct the
project.
Successful
Page 3 Project focus edition
$ 2,668,240
Total size of the
project.
60,000
Number of Splash
customers by Sep‐
tember 2010.
The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund
Equatorial Fidelity Centre,
Opposite New Safaricom House,
Behind Shell Petrol station,
3rd Floor
Waiyaki Way
Nairobi.
P.O. BOX 13459‐00100GPO
Nairobi ‐ Kenya
O: +254 20 2699137/8/9
Contact AECF
We’re on the web!
Www.aecfafrica.org
General e‐mail: [email protected]
For any information regarding a particular business idea/project submission
e‐mail: [email protected]