By Derrick Silimina
Younger farmers are emerging with various agri-business ideas to satisfy the local demand.
With only three village chickens, one rooster and two hens at a total cost of K180, Charity Konkola, 50, started her own poultry business after realising that there were few people in Solwezi who were into village chicken rearing.
Afterwards, she also purchased a set of ducks and turkeys to beef up her poultry house, bringing the total investment to more than K800.
Determined to make an extra income away from her daily routine as a medical practitioner at Solwezi General Hospital, Konkola believes that professionals like herself should consider venturing into agri-business.
SOLWEZI food production is undergoing a rebirth after a period in which old-time farmers were going into retirement. Konkola hinted that she had learnt how to come up with a business plan, how to keep records and business management, among others.
Solwezi Today August 2020 41 Inspired by her husband’s business experience, in 2019, Konkola decided to kickstart her own business after having invested K1,500 in a poultry house in her backyard; so that instead of buying chickens for consumption all the time, she could rear her own birds for relish as well as for sale and earn an extra income.
“I realised that there were few people within Solwezi who were rearing village chickens and I discovered that most chickens used to come from Kasempa district.”
Konkola said she was now living her dream because poultry business had always been her obsession, thanks to the monthly training workshops by Fortune World Investments, the business consulting firm engaged by Kansanshi Mining Plc to train entrepreneurs in the district.
She acknowledged that the business training workshops by Fortune World have helped her sharpen skills in business management.
“Early this year, whilst lodging at the guest house where the business workshops are always conducted, I got interested to join and after I got registered and started attending, I have acquired a lot of knowledge which will help me progress in my business because I was clueless and I didn’t know much.”
- Medical practitioner Charity Konkola (left) who has ventured into poultry business captured with Fortune World Investments Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta (extreme right) and his Director of Programmes Patrick Matanda.
Konkola hinted that she had learnt how to come up with a business plan, how to keep records and business management, among others.“I now look forward to acquiring a farm where I can develop my poultry so that I can sell to lodges within Solwezi and even for the export market in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.”
The Fortune World entourage led by Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta and his Director of Programmes Patrick Matanda was pleased to note that, barely a year of having attended the business workshops, Konkola’s initiative to rear ducks and turkeys had succeeded.
“We would like to commend you because there are very few people with turkeys and ducks as they are among the scarce poultry products on the market. Kindly perfect the art of growing all these birds at the same time, research more on producing your own feed and once you expand, it will be easy for you to manage your poultry business well,” Kafuta said.
