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.

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

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]

2011 project focus

Documents

project focus edition