Taking Onion Trading to Another Level

 

By Derrick Silimina

As the trading of onion becomes competitive on the local market, many marketeers are taking the agribusiness venture to another level

One such seasoned marketeer is Susan Kapambwe who operates from Kyawama market in Solwezi District of North-Western Province. 

At the age of 40, Kapambwe’s area of speciality is the buying and selling of mainly onions and tomatoes. 

“This onion business is very lucrative as it has high profits. I buy onions from Kapiri Mposhi and Nakonde, which I come to resell here in Solwezi. I started the onion business in 2010 with a minimal capital of K500, and I have since grown my capital base to K8,000 in terms of cash at hand,” Kapambwe affirms. 

Kapambwe explains that she procures one 50 kg bag of onion at K600, and upon selling the onion in smaller heaps at retail price, makes about K1,500 from one bag, making a profit of K900 per bag. At most, she procures about eight bags at the total cost of K4,800 and one bag takes about five days to sell. 

“To ensure my bags of onion sell quicker, I distribute some of them to fellow marketeers who sell on my behalf. Each marketeer then brings a K1,200 while retaining K300 sales commission. My profit per bag comes to about K600 when sold through agents.” 

She said the onion business has been of great help to her as she is currently building a house where she has already spent K10,000 on building materials. 

In 2020, Kapambwe decided to sharpen her business proficiency and enrolled for the business development training conducted by Fortune World Investment, courtesy of the Kansanshi Mining Plc. At the time, lessons were still being conducted physically but due to the Covid-19 outbreak, classroom based training was put on hold, and she has continued following lessons on radio. 

Kapambwe has so far followed ten lessons via radio training and affirmed that the training has given her capacity to deal in more than one product at once. 

“Prior to attending the training, I had poor financial management practices and my business remained stunted,” she stressed. 

Kapambwe says after having been equipped with the knowledge in Financial Management, it has made her a better manager, hence being able to grow her business to its current state. 

“I now plan to diversify my business to rearing village chickens that will lay eggs for hatching to increase the number of birds, while extra fertilized eggs would be sold at K150 per tray,” she said. 

Having felt the impact of the FWIL business training, Kapambwe hopes to enroll for a piggery rearing course in future. She anticipates diversifying into rearing pigs that will be supplied to supermarkets in the form of processed pork. 

“I intend to register my business and have asked the FWIL mentoring team for guidance because my initial capital in the piggery is K10,000 which I hope to raise in the next 6 months,” she said. 

Apart from running her own business, Kapambwe belongs to a 40 member cooperative which was recently registered. The group intends to venture into crop and poultry farming on a five hectares piece of land which she bought and offered. 

“Thank you KMP management for the knowledge they are providing through the business training, which has made my business grow,” Kapambwe affirmed.

Training tailors, cooks or service staff

 

By Derrick Silimina

Catholic nuns are providing skills training to young women in Zambia to help them escape poverty.

Poverty is widespread in Zambia, with rural areas more affected than urban areas. Moreover, women and girls are particularly disadvantaged in a largely unequal society.

Many rural poor migrate and settle in slum areas often located in or on the outskirts of urban centres. One such area is Chawama, one of Lusaka’s largest slums.

The Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family, a Catholic parish based in Lusaka, try to help women and adolescent girls in Chawama. 

Inside their Cheshire Divine Providence Home, they have established a Homecraft training school, a computer school, primary and secondary schools. The Homecraft training school offers various skills training such as cookery, tailoring, handicraft and knitting among others to young women.

Catholic missionaries like the Sisters of the Holy Family have been present in Africa since the 18th century. On top of spreading their religious doctrines, they are involved in socio-economic development programmes in many African countries.

“We teach the young ladies and mothers how to improve their life in society and in their homes. We empower them with some skills in tailoring and designing, cooking and baking, handicraft and knitting. Through all these skills, we believe that we are helping some of these Zambian women to fight poverty in society,” says Magdalene Wanja, sister-in-charge of the skills training school.

The Homecraft training school enrols over 100 students per year. Most of its trainees end up working in restaurants, tailoring shops, hotels, and lodging facilities. 

Some of the young women start and run their own small businesses. “I look forward to graduating and finding a job at a hotel or a resort so that I can raise income to start my own restaurant in future,” says Mirriam Munwela, one of the students doing a tailoring and catering course.

Emeldah Lungu, 28, another student at the training school, explains that it is her dream one day to become a fashion designer. 

“My career is slowly unfolding. My passion has always been to become a fashion designer. Thank you Sisters at Homecraft training school for adding value to what I want to become. I can’t wait to live my dream and lift myself out of poverty,” Lungu stated.

The Catholic missionaries are happy to see their skills development programme helping women in Chawama. 

Sister Wanja affirms: “We are happy that the response from women is overwhelming despite the financial challenges they go through to manage to pay for their one and half year training as the school depends on their tuition fees to operate effectively.”

Making Kitchenware in Solwezi

By Derrick Silimina

As the importation of kitchenware is seemingly shrinking gradually in Zambia, some local innovative minds have captured a major share of the domestic market.

Emmanuel Kamau, 29, a resident of Kandemba area of Solwezi District in North-Western Province is one of the few young creative entrepreneurs making some cool cash from kitchenware manufacturing business. 

In 2018, Kamau with three other partners started the business venture with a minimal capital of K200. 

The business involves buying aluminum metal from various companies, melting it at high temperatures in a makeshift oven; pouring the molten metal into molds made out of sand to bring out different sizes and designs of aluminum pots. 

“This is a very good business because we have many customers who come to buy pots for instance for resale. In short, we sell our products at both wholesale and retail price,” Kamau says. 

PRODUCES 

The business produces on average 30 pots per day, depending on availability of materials. Scrap aluminum is secured at K5 per kg, and the finished products sell at prices ranging from K30 to K90 each depending on size.

He stated that with availability of materials, sales can even go up to 300 pots every month as the retail price for the biggest pot peaks at K130 each.

“This business is able to raise between K20,000 and K25,000 in terms of sales turnover, with profits coming to about K12,000 per month. Our capital base currently stands at K15,000 in terms of liquidity, and 50 per cent of the proceeds are reinvested into the business,” he explains. 

Due to restrictions of movements brought about by Covid-19 between 2020 and 2021, Kamau regrets that the business temporarily experienced some setbacks in terms of access to materials, therefore slowing down manufacturing activities. 

However, since the situation has now improved as more materials are now available, Kamau has a vision to improve the workshop by constructing a better oven, connecting electricity and purchasing equipment such as a welding and grinding machine to be used for cutting of aluminum to smaller pieces for melting.

 

“With such machinery in place, we anticipate to earn a minimum of K25,000 per month. We are in the process of registering our business with PACRA so as to tap into the vast opportunities such as financing and markets,” Kamau says. 

AFLOAT 

Despite some economic hurdles, Kamau and his partners have managed to keep the business afloat, thanks to some business tactics acquired from the Fortune World Investments’ training business workshops which are powered by Kansanshi Mining Plc. 

When Kamau was recruited for the business development programme in 2021, he was able to clear all the 24 topics. 

“The training equipped me with the ability to manage finances prudently, hence expanding the business. Currently, funds are saved via a mobile money facility. One of the attributes that I got from the training is the ability to overcome fear and be able to venture into business with confidence,” Kamau says. 

He salutes the KMP management for providing a platform of empowerment through the business training. 

That has rekindled his appetite for further training in metal fabrication to improve skills for business enhancement. 

The Fortune World mentoring team were impressed with the innovation displayed by the youthful entrepreneurs and urged them to expedite the process of registering the business and opening a company bank account. 

“Once your business is registered, it would easily be linked to the North Western Chamber of Commerce to access further capacity building opportunities,” FWIL Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta said.

Entrepreneur Scoring with Poulets and Eggs

 

By Derrick Silimina

Beatrice Mwenze’s passion for the chicken rearing business unfolded with a poultry house to accommodate 550 birds - now she is building another one for 1,000.

I started the poultry business in 2016 as a way of supplementing my husband’s income after I built a (5 x 22m) poultry house with a capacity to accommodate 550 birds,” Mwenze recalls. 

Mwenze, 42, a resident of Solwezi’s Kandundu area, states that though sometimes the local market gets flooded, poultry business remains profitable as she takes her chickens to Kasumbalesa border, Zambia’s entry point into the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

With the current local market price of K100 and K120 per bird, she sells her chickens and eggs within a week to avoid feeding them further and to maximize on profits. From her current investment of K24,000 which consists of chicks medicines, feed, charcoal and sawdust, is rearing 450 one-week-old chicks.

“This is a lucrative business because sales of 450 birds at K100 each gives me about K45,000. After I deduct expenses, it gives me a 50 per cent profit margin of about K21,000,” she affirms. 

The border market is even better with higher prices as her 450 chickens can take about three to four days to sell. In her quest to enrich her knowledge in poultry business, Mwenze started attending training in January, 2021 at Aaso Lodge, the main venue for Fortune World Investment’s monthly business workshops. 

And when lessons shifted to radio, on account of the Covid-19 restrictions, she continued following the programs to date. 

“The business training has equipped me with knowledge for better business management, and most topics learned have motivated me create employment for helper who earns K1000 per month,” Mwenze states.

Moving forward, Mwenze plans to increase the number of birds to 1000 and is currently constructing a bigger poultry house at her farm. 

She also looks forward to a situation where she will begin to supply all her chickens to one source and get paid at once because her record keeping is up to date with details of day-old chicks, stock feed and sales data. 

Additionally, Mwenze is rearing 90 piglets at Weighbridge area and will begin selling them in December when they are fully mature. 

With the current local selling price of pork at K90 per kg, Mwenze is encouraged to also look for a market at lodges, hotels and restaurants as a way of increasing her customer base. 

Mwenze is hopeful: “In future, I seek to acquire more training in poultry farming, animal husbandry and feed formulation to help boost my agribusiness.”

Planning with a Heart for Veggies and Fruits

 

By Derrick Silimina

Vegetables are the cheapest source of essential minerals and vitamins and for a long time have remained a popular ingredient in Zambian sauces, soups and stews.

Nonetheless, vegetable farming is one of the little-touted ventures in agriculture, but if well nurtured can offer truly amazing business opportunities. 

For this reason, Roger Musemvu, 42, is among many entrepreneurs from North-Western Province who are taking advantage of the large demand for vegetables in Solwezi’s bustling city markets. 

Musemvu is one of the devoted farmers of Solwezi’s Kimale area who in 2018 started cultivating carrots on a half lima piece of land, and green maize on a half lima. 

He spent K1,200 on procuring inputs such as seed, fertilizer and an additional K1,500 on fuel for his generator which facilitated irrigation to kickstart his horticultural project. After harvest, he sold his products and raised K5000 from carrots alongside K2,800 from maize. 

In a bid to sharpen his horticultural skills, Musemvu enrolled for the free monthly business development training programme funded by Kansanshi Mine Limited and executed by Fortune World Investment limited (FWIL) in the district. 

“With topics such as time and record management, which I grasped from the business training, I learned to spend my time productively as I have no idle time any more. For me, time spent in the field is money.” 

Having completed the training in December 2018, Musemvu’s work culture has transformed positively as he is in his garden from morning to evening every day. With his records management skills learned from the training, he is able to keep records such as sales, expenses as well as profit and loss accounts.

 “Thank you to the KMP management for the training. I urge them to continue and extend their business empowerment programme to others as this entrepreneurship training is changing many lives in the district,” he notes. 

Recently, FWIL Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta paid Musemvu a mentorship visit to ascertain progress made thus far and was impressed that he has continued with farming and has currently invested in cabbages and tomatoes, using water from a nearby stream and a Genset for irrigation. 

With an investment of K3,490 into cabbage production, Musemvu is proud now that heads are selling at between K7 and K10 per head, depending on size. “I expect to make about K36,000 from the venture by the time all my cabbages are sold,” Musemvu states. 

He has equally invested K1,824 into tomato production and has cultivated more than 800 plants of tomato, which are already being harvested. 

Musemvu plans to expand further into planting other crops to expand his niche in the sector. With one box of tomato fetching an average price of K200 at a local market, the farmer has so far cashed in about K16,800 as per day. 

He harvests three boxes of tomatoes, and has already been harvesting them for a month. Having tested how profitable the horticultural industry is, Musemvu is positioning himself for rapid growth as he is now planning to acquire a bigger piece of land where gardening activities will be expanded and will comprise cabbage, carrots, egg plants, tomato and green maize among others. 

On the other hand, he has also planted a nursery of fruits such as oranges, avocado, and bananas. Musemvu has not yet registered his business, but intends to do so in January 2022. 

“I have so far acquired five hectares of land specifically for fruits in Solwezi’s Lwamakanda area where I will transplant one hectare of oranges, one Lima of avocado and one Lima of bananas.”

Zambia Fights Corruption

By Derrick Silimina

Corruption and embezzlement in Zambia have for long plagued the country. However, the new government of President Hakainde Hichilema assures that it strives to fight corruption and it has taken first measures.

In Zambia, political and economic governance declined between 2019 and 2021 according to research data. Additionally, the people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo increased as the currency lost roughly 50 % of its value against the US dollar, which resulted in increasing prices for goods and services.

Zambia’s business domain has continued to be hindered by corruption due to a weak institutional framework. This includes flaws in company registration, tax evasion, flaws in the procurement of goods and services and unfair tender processes. 

After taking power in 2021, Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia’s seventh head of state, launched a battle against corruption, in the hope that countering the vice would help redirect huge sums of public funds towards economic development.

“We will have zero tolerance to corruption. The fight against corruption will be done from a professional angle, a legal angle to recover the assets as much as possible so that we can apply those assets’ revenues to benefit owners (people of Zambia) in education, health and investment for women and youths,” said President Hichilema.

Through its law-enforcement agencies, the new government has conducted several operations to reprimand corrupt individuals and government officials. 

The Zambia police swung into action in Lusaka’s new Kasama suburb, where they discovered trunks of cash amounting to 5.3 million kwacha (around $ 3.7 million). 

In addition, they also unearthed a safe containing $ 57,900. Both sums of money were suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained by Faith Musonda, a well-known former national radio journalist. The state also took possession of the house, where the sum of cash was discovered.

Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating a total of 87 cases of suspected corruption, of which 55 are of public interest and involve politically exposed individuals from the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF).

However, senior PF bigwigs claim that the new government has turned its war on corruption into a witch-hunt of its political opponents. 

“It’s us they want to fix and not the economy,” lamented former PF Secretary General Davies Mwila.

The government is not deterred by cries from its opponents, and the president in a recent address to the National Assembly reiterated his government’s commitment to further the fight against corruption.

“We have waged war against corruption and will fight it from the past, present and the future so that resources benefit all citizens. We will improve the benefit of being honest, rather than being dishonest and more funding will be allocated to the law enforcement agencies to deal with corruption,” Hichilema said.

He also touted the creation of a Fast-truck Stolen Assets Recovery System to fully deal with corruptly acquired assets. In this regard, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane recently handed over forfeited funds by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to the treasury in Lusaka.

“The funds will benefit an additional 2,232 university students across the nation who were left out on government bursaries in December 2021 due to budget constraints,” said Musokotwane.

The rise of a Solwezi film-maker

 

By Derrick Silimina

Youthful Shadreck Mfwana, an upcoming film maker from Solwezi’s Kazomba area, started pursuing film-making as far back as 2007 after completing his Grade 12, though without generating any income then.

“I Would hire a camera to learn how to go about film-making, and I also did videos and still photos to raise some income,” Mfwana, now 30, narrates. 

In 2016, Mfwana attempted to make a film, courtesy of a certain studio, after having borrowed some money to invest in the venture. The attempt flopped. However, in January 2018, after learning how to manage his talent, Mfwana enrolled for the business development training programme powered by Kansanshi Mine Limited through Fortune World Investment limited (FWIL) and completed the 12 topic module the same year. 

Prior to attending the training, Mfwana had little knowledge of marketing and advertising. After the training, he began to advertise his business through Facebook and grew his customer base.

“I have now registered my business and opened a bank account, as the workshops enlightened me a lot on how to runmy film-making enterprise,” he notes. 

Mfwana bubbles with confidence that he now has the capacity to offer various services including; Film-making, script writing, directing for clients, editing for clients, photography and cinematography (camera directing, placement, lighting). 

Some of his works so far include screenwriting, translation and time coding for his client, a prominent actor on Zambezi Magic, a channel on DSTV. He recalls that one of the productions on Zambezi Magic, in all worth about K270,000, earned him K5000 per series, giving him a total of K65,000 for 13 episodes. 

Mfwana has described the film industry as “very lucrative,” but requires capital investment approximately K30,000 to cater for production costs to pay crew members, logistics, food and clothes for actors among others. 

He currently has three pending projects; a feature film of 1 hour 30 minutes in length which has the capacity to earn him K150,000 and a two-part series with 13 episodes each, which could earn him about K400,000. 

Other pending outcomes include a 50-per cent profit in some film projects and some TV stations pay commission to air every episode. 

“My gratitude goes to the Kansanshi Mining Plc management team for the training and I encourage them to continue to raise more self-employed persons like myself,” Mfwana says.