Our agribusinesses won us Sh500,000 seed capital

Hezron Opiyo in the chickens' house in his Kisumu farm. PHOTO | ELIZABETH OJINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Hezron Opiyo’s poultry venture is among agro start-ups that won funding due to their uniqueness.
  • Amos Amenya, a senior agronomist at Lake Basin Development Authority, says ochonga (omena remains) causes coccidiosis and constipation if it is not dried well.
  • Rosse Shikuku sells processed milk through the ATM, offering customers from as low as Sh5.
  • One thing that is clear Is that Africa’s next entrepreneurs will be a connected lot across the globe.

YOU WANT MORE FROM CHICKENS? SELL PARTS

Dressed in a black trouser and a white shirt emblazoned with the word Kisumu Poultry Farmers Ltd (KPF), Hezron Opiyo weighs chicken meat packed in a plastic tin ready for delivery to a customer.

You have to get it right so that the customer does not complain,” says Opiyo.

The poultry house on the farm in Kibuye is 12 by 9 feet and hosts 400 month-old broilers. The farmer, however, keeps 70 Kienyeji birds on a separate farm in Ahero.

He has also contracted five farmers who keep the birds and supply him.

“We buy from the farmers at Sh400 and sell for up to double the price, but sometimes the cost goes down depending on the size and weight,” says Opiyo, who adds value to his produce for more money.

He slaughters the birds and packages the meat in branded tins before selling, what Seeds of Gold found him doing.

Besides selling whole chicken, more money comes from chicken parts that include drum sticks and wings.

“A kilo of drum sticks goes for Sh700, wings costs Sh730 while 500g of assorted chicken parts goes for Sh230. A whole chicken goes for Sh400 per kilo. We slaughter 300 birds after every two weeks,” said Ronnie Omondi, Opiyo’s cousin who helps him run the business.

They make free deliveries in the Kisumu central business district but charge a fee of Sh100 for places outside the town.

“We sell to schools like Kisumu Girls, hotels and individuals the packed meat,” says Opiyo, noting he started slaughtering the birds in January.

The farmer feeds the broilers commercial mashes while for Kienyeji birds, they make their own feeds from ingredients they buy from Kisumu saving up to 40 per cent of the costs.

“An agricultural expert took us through the feed making process and we have now mastered the process. For carbohydrates, we use maize or rice germ, proteins we crash soya or omena (fish meal) and supplement with collard greens.”

Opiyo says he stopped giving his chicks ochonga (omena waste) because it causes constipation.

“Initially, we offered the feeds because they are cheap and readily available in Kisumu but we found ourselves treating the chicks every now and then. We realised ochonga was the problem,” says Opiyo, noting their birds contracted coccidiosis due to the feeds.

But the business is not all rosy, recently, they lost some 250 chicks to Newcastle disease.

“We experienced a big challenge with Newcastle and gumboro and almost gave up. Out of 400 chicks we had bought, we lost 250 to the diseases,” says Opiyo, 25, who started the business with Sh50,000 saved from a sales job he was doing in Nairobi.

Opiyo, who is studying a degree in Project Planning and Management at the University of Nairobi, quit the contract job in 2014 to concentrate on poultry farming after running the agribusiness as a small side hustle on his parents’ farm in Ahero since 2012.

His determination to succeed in poultry farming and be unique has paid off as he is awaiting Sh505,000 ($5,000) funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Tony Elumelu.

“Out of thousands of applicants in Africa, I was amongst the 75 who succeeded from Kenya. The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme supports young entrepreneurs who are out to bring change and make a difference in the society,” says Opiyo, noting he learnt of the opportunity through a newspaper advert.

Once short-listed, he underwent a three months online training to boost entrepreneurial skills.

“I worked with a mentor who does complete value chain in the poultry business from making feeds, hatching chicks, selling poultry for meat to doing value addition. Through the mentor, I learned how to add value to products, and now I understand how to reach the niche market,” says Opiyo, adding he will use the money to boost his agribusiness by relocating to a 0.25 acre family land in Dunga.

Amos Amenya, a senior agronomist at Lake Basin Development Authority says ochonga causes coccidiosis and constipation if it is not dried well.

“Some farmers collect it from the lake and feed their birds directly. This is wrong because it is contaminated. It should be well-dried and keep it a cool and dry place to prevent it from accumulating moisture.”

-By Elizabeth Ojina and Angela Oketch

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GO KADOGO, THE SECRET OF SELLING MORE MILK

Rosse Shikuku fills a glass with milk as she demonstrates the working of her milk ATM in her milk bar in Eldoret. PHOTO | STANLEY KIMUGE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Rosse Shikuku presses a button on her milk ATM in Eldoret and looks on as the produce flows into a plastic cup.

She then hands the cup to a waiting customer at a table in her milk bar and moves on to serve another.

Rosse has been in the business of dispensing fresh, pasteurised and ready-to-drink milk using the machine since 2014.  

The unique business idea is what made her one of the finalists in this year’s Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, in the agribusiness category. 

“I am one of the 75 Kenyans who were finalists, out of the 1,000 people selected from the continent from the thousands of applicants.”
To get selected, Shikuku explains that applicants were supposed to sell their agribusiness ideas and convince the panellists that they are involved in the running of the ventures.

“We were supposed to provide all documents such as business permit, statement on debt status, a business plan and financial records,” recalls Rosse, who learnt of the funding opening from a newspaper advert.

“Last year, I saw the advert and informed a friend who applied and got it. So this year I logged onto their website to check on the programme and applied in February before the March 1 deadline.”

But it was the uniqueness of her enterprise which she included in the business plan that contributed to her selection.

“My business guarantees consumers low prices, engages them and ensures the product is of good quality. We treat our customers well and give unique services such as the selling milk from as low as Sh5,” says Rosse, noting she would get some Sh505,000 ($5,000) funding.

The mother of three, who has worked for more than 25 years in the civil service, says she will use the money to purchase a generator and another milk ATM.

“The challenge has been that there is power outage at least two days in a week which really affects my business as I am not able to sell the product. That is why I need the generator.”

But it has not been all easy for the business she started in 2014 and invested Sh750,000 loan in the machine.

“When I took a loan, my aim was to join the transport sector in Eldoret but I had fears. So a friend advised me to go for the milk ATM.”
She installed the machine with a capacity of 400 litres in Kawangware, Nairobi.

“I started with 50 litres and within two months, I hit 150 litres a day. I chose the residential area because of the ready market,” says Rosse.

However, at some point, she lost customers after rumours circulated that her milk was not processed.

In February, she relocated to Mwanzo estate in Eldoret.

“I started by selling 25 litres daily and moved to 50 litres but the business was not doing well. So I relocated to Huruma estate and the sales were better. I am now selling at least 100 litres daily,” she explains.

She sources the pasteurised milk from the Moi Bridge Dairies, which delivers to her premises at Sh60 a litre.

Sammy Limo, the Kenya Dairy Board regional manager, says that the milk ATM is a safe, cheaper and convenient way to dispense dairy products.

“We have developed regulations in conjunction with Kenya Bureau of Standards to ensure that milk ATM dealers sell only pasteurised product. The ATMs are stationery, thus, it is easier to monitor and supervise to enhance quality.”

-By Stanley Kimuge

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SMALL OR BIG, WE WILL MAKE DRIP IRRIGATION WORK FOR YOU

The two friends, David Weru and George Kiambuthi who run the drip irrigation kit installation firm, Dripsol Company. PHOTO | CORRESPONDENT

David Weru (29) and George Kiambuthi (28) are not only close friends, but also agribusiness partners.

Ordinarily, you will meet them together, but then if you meet Weru alone, Kiambuthi is usually not far away.

The 2013 graduates of Egerton University have cultivated their friendship ever since they studied water engineering at the college.

After graduation, they got jobs in the same firm dealing in drip irrigation installation in Nairobi.

Less than a year into the job, in July 2014, they both quit and started Dripsol, a firm that deals in irrigation systems. It is based in Limuru.

“We had a little savings from our job and approached a customer who needed our services. He offered us a deposit of 75 per cent which we used to do the work. So far we have installed 86 drip kits in different farms countrywide,” says Weru.

They target smallholder farms as small as a 50 by 50ft plot.

“Our decision to work with farmers owning the tiniest pieces of land stems from the fact that an increase in human population means a decrease in farming land,” says Weru. With proper management, small farms offer hefty returns.

They have four regular employees and occasionally hire casual labourers.

“We take on average two days to install drip kits on an acre. We normally import the kits and install the system after receiving 75 per cent down payment out of the Sh120,000 we charge for an acre. But if the land is smaller, the price drops to even Sh50,000,” Kiambuthi says, adding the remainder is paid on completion of the work.

The two participated in this year’s Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship and emerged finalists in the top 1,000 young agri-entrepreneurs in a pool populated with thousands of contestants across the continent.

“One has to have a start-up agribusiness capable of growing by creating employment,” they say of the requirements of the entrepreneurship.

The duo, however, have to contend with challenges ranging from getting the right equipment, funding, skilled workers and gaining customers’ confidence and trust.

“First you must identify your scope and field of passion and check its viability in your location, then forge ahead without giving up or listening to the negative voices,” Kiambuthi advises young people wishing to join agribusiness.

-By Brian Okinda

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MY IDEA PUTS MORE MONEY INTO FARMERS' POCKETS

Bernadette Muyomi, the proprietor of Green Agri Venture, checks on pawpaw fruits with which she encourages farmers in her county to venture into cottage industry value addition. PHOTO | CORRESPONDENT

Sometime in 2014, Bernadette Muyomi came up with a concept she called Green Bank, which targeted smallholder fruit farmers to benefit from value addition.

The idea involved the farmers in Busia accumulating their produce and adding value to it.

For banana farmers, for instance, they were to bulk their ripe or raw produce and use it to make flour and crisps, among many other products.

But the 34-year-old, who is now the Busia County Executive in-charge of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, did not stop there through her Green Agri Ventures.

She divided the concept into two, namely Fruits for Wealth, through which farmers added value to the produce, and Fruits for Books, which involved schools where students in their agricultural clubs grew fruits and sold them to buy books and other learning materials.

These ideas she implemented earned her funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

“It is satisfying that I get to help people in my county to better their lives and earn from value addition,” says Bernadette, who invested in the agribusiness Sh3 million, money that went to buying of equipment.

She works with individual farmers and schools that include Tingolo primary in Butula, Busia.

“I started with 50 farmers and I am currently working with about 500. We process their produce and sell crisps, for instance, from Sh45 to Sh90 and flour for Sh80 for half a kilo and Sh150 per kilo,” says the agri-entrepenuer, who holds a Masters in Development Studies from Moi University and a Bachelor of Science, Nursing from University of Eastern Africa, Baraton.

To succeed in any agri-venture, she advises that one has to believe in what they want to do and base their vision on contemporary practical ideas.

-By Brian Okinda

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AFRICA'S NEW CROP OF ENTREPRENEURS TURNS TO THE SOIL

The continent’s next crop of entrepreneurs is turning to the soil for business. At least, that is what was revealed at an auditorium filled with aspiring business folk gathering for the second cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) entrepreneurs’ boot camp in Lagos, Nigeria on October 29.

Hezron and his cousin Ronnie Omondi display their packaged and branded chicken products for sale. Hezron's determination to succeed in poultry farming and be unique has paid off as he is awaiting Sh505,000 ($5,000) funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Tony Elumelu. PHOTO | ELIZABETH OJINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Statistics from the TEF show that agriculture was the leading sector with 304 of the 1,000 finalists representing 54 African countries.

“We must glamorise agriculture,” Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo said at the event.

Of the 75 Kenyans chosen to take part in this year’s programme, 18 were from the agribusiness field. Another 10 from information and communication, which also remains a favourite choice for entrepreneurs across the continent.

The boot camp featured a mix of plenary sessions, workshops and master classes facilitated by some of Nigeria’s foremost business leaders

The highlight came when businessman and TEF leader Tony Elumelu hosted a couple of African leaders to charge the entrepreneurs.

In 2015, 167 Kenyans were chosen for the inaugural programme, which includes weeks of online training and pairing with mentors to support their growth.

The ultimate total reward is the $10,000 (Sh1.01 million) seed money that goes towards their business development. Entreprenuers, however, get $5,000 (Sh505,000) in the first stage, which is a non-returnable investment that is offered automatically upon completion of the 12 week training programme, attendance at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum and approval of submitted business plan

The second stage is a returnable loan or equity investment of $5,000, and must be applied for separately.

Many of the finalists described the experience with TEF as critical for the development of their businesses in so many ways.

Of the 1,000 start-ups listed for 2015, 929 got seed funding from the foundation. TEF website lists in detail the requirements that entrepreneurs must go through to finally access the seed money promised.

One thing that is clear Is that Africa’s next entrepreneurs will be a connected lot across the globe. The energy and excitement around the room was testament enough to that.

-By Anne Mucheke in Lagos