Agribusiness Leadership Institute

  Dear Farmer, I am glad you have decided to continue on the path of growth.  I admit it isn’t easy  but the results are worth it as I am sure you can agree. Of late I have been receiving messages from many farmers asking if I can link them up with a market because their products are at harvest or slaughter stage and  when I ask why they have operated this way. And the usual response is, I thought I would never go wrong with food.   So today I have decided to tackle the issue of market research. Its something people talk about being essential but few actually follow through and do it. I will unpack the what,why, when, how and who of basic market research. Trust me it isn’t as complicated as you think, I can see you roll your eyes because I always say that.   Sources of data can be primary ( first hand data and you have full control over the whole research process) or secondary (second hand data from the Internet, Government publications, industry bulletins,...

Dear Farmer,   The rains are upon us and 2024  looks promising, today I want to challenge you to finish safe and start strong. There are many factors that as farmers that we may not have control over such as the climate, government policy, political landscape etc but through effective planning we can to a certain extent come up with a favorable outcome.   The importance of planning in increasing efficiency, achieving profit targets, providing focus and coordination, aiding decision making, reducing risks, encouraging innovation and creativity can never be overstated. The question that almost always arises is how does one create an effective plan?   Every plan has to answer 5 questions which are:  Why, What, Where, When, Who  and this will help you effectively plan the How  of execution.         WHY? Why are  you in existence, do you operate the way you do, should customers and other stakeholders do business with you? This secti...

  Dear Young Farmer,   During our last fireside chat, one of your friends indicated that the reason he doesn’t consider commercial farming is because he only has 1 acre of land (less than 0.5ha), another mentioned how she doesn’t practice the tenets of commercial farming even though she has large tracts of land. This is because her company has not grown big enough to warrant some of the systems and structures that underpin commercial farming. And yes you are right, I am definitely going to challenge what I call the myth of commercial farming which is essentially about size. The traditional definition of commercial farming is a type of agriculture that involves the production of crops or livestock on a large tract of land with the primary goal of generating profits by selling products in markets. My problem with this definition is the estimated 1.5 million small scale farmers producing 80% of Africa’s food requirements and for it to be distributed it definitely must be sold at ...

  Dear Farmer,    As always I am happy to answer your questions and offer thoughts on all things Agribusiness and Leadership related. In a Agribusiness Needs Assessment survey I carried out in July 2023, expansion was the highest priority at 61.8%  and I know you are also thinking about it. In the last letter I touched on some key components such as Vision Casting, Personal Leadership and Management skills that you need to think about as you deliberate on whether you are ready to expand/scale your business and  as promised I will finish on the remaining components namely Organisational Culture, Human Capital, Product Demand Financing, Infrastructure and Relationship Management.   Organisational Culture Organisational Culture refers to your team’s attitudes, beliefs and norms of behavior. If this is toxic it will hinder your growth and throwing money at it like I have seen others do will not change much in the long term. World trends indicate that employees ...

  Dear Farmer,  As always I am happy to answer your questions and offer thoughts on all things Agribusiness and Leadership related. Without wasting your time I want to hone in on your question on what you need to consider for sustainable expansion aka scaling up. This stage of assessing your capacity for expansion can seem like a time wasting and tedious process but trust me, it will save you a lot of money, anguish and relationships. Always keep in mind that studies show that roughly 66% of the fastest growing start ups shrink, stagnate or fail in a period of 5-8 years . It is important to begin with an end in mind, what is the Expansion Destination? I will also ask questions around  Personal Leadership and Management Skills, Organisational Culture, Product Demand, Human Capital, Financing,  Infrastructure,  and Relationship Management. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? I have split this response into two letters so that you don’t feel overwhelmed and suffer from ...

  In  2023 after the Fellowship I was privileged to get the opportunity to do three things. The first was writing articles for Agribusiness Media magazines and Zimunda Magazine on leadership, organisation development etc, the second was a workshop on Agribusiness impacting the lives of 18 youths and the Fellowship Alumni, and the third was developing a training manual for the workshop.   However, a year after the Fellowship, I still didn’t have much to show on the Agribusiness Leadership Academy. Other stuff had taken centre stage and I loved the work I did but this wasn't really the dream.  Come 2024 even the writing stopped, and that should have been the first signal but as expected I ignored it. Agribusiness Media team approached me to organise Field Tours for them, Federation of Young Farmers Zimbabwe liked my Look and Learn Concept, I even designed a blog that I wanted to use to amplify the work of the females in the Agricultural Value Chain. All these were...

In 2022 the opportunity to apply for a Professional Fellowship in Agribusiness came up and is always the case I shared the information with others and you guessed right. Initially my thoughts were “I am not academically qualified in Agriculture, this isn’t for me” and I ignored it. My boss made me do it, it was part of the work plan that I submitted weekly. Her advice- tell your story. I didn’t think I had a chance. I got called for an interview, I thought they just wanted to increase numbers. I remember stating three times in that interview that I wasn’t qualified for the work that I did. Then came the acceptance letter, in my head haaa I must be on the waiting list because they didn’t get that many applicants. It was a year between acceptance and beginning the travel arrangements and all. Again the importance of having a tribe with the right people, the Harambe Trust team had more faith than I did.   5 May 2023 I boarded a plane for the first time for the trip to Michigan State U...

  In 2021 I joined a non governmental organisation whose vision I resonated with, Empowered, Inclusive Self-sustaining Communities. My job was to head the organisation’s skills development arm Harare Technical and Agricultural Academy. I was practically handed an open check, I could dream all I wanted as long as I had the bandwidth to implement the dreams. I was excited and lacked the confidence that I had what it took to grow this thing. I wasn’t too vocal when I interacted with others in this field because ‘ I hadn’t studied for this, so I am not qualified to speak’.   I researched, spoke to farmers etc and   that same year  I organised  my first   farmer’s field day 150kms out of Harare to visit a farmer who grew tomato all year round in open fields (traditionally tomatoes are only grown in summer in open fields with winter crops being planted in greenhouses).  I implemented what we had learnt on this trip  and again  it was hard work...

  The Beginning I t was  2008 ,  the year of Zimbabwe’s most remembered economic melt-down, drought, political and civil unrest .  I was a final year student at Africa University and a single mother of one, facing an uncertain future after graduation. At the beginning of the final semester, as I sat outdoors contemplating my future, my eyes rested on the University’s field of winter wheat. My heart stirred and I remember it was a beautiful healthy green color, dense and weed free. Swaying to a dance in the breeze that even I became a part of as I watched, the crop  held an endless promise of a better future for me. That semester, I chose to do my work study program (working for the University in return for a financial scholarship) in the H orticultural department even though it would have been easier to choose working in the Library.  This gave me an understanding of how the basics of horticulture worked and how on a small piece of land things could still h...