Young Entrepreneur of the Week – Beauty Manake – Botswana

By Anne Wangalachi.

 

An emerging class of youthful entrepreneurs are tapping into the black and green gold that is abundant in Africa; the rich farm lands and their bountiful yields. They are well-educated, business- and tech-savvy, stylish and the epitome of success. They are showing that well-run farms can be as successful as any other business venture.

 

In this, the first of a series profiling these young agripreneurs, we feature Beauty Manake, 31, from Botswana who runs a thriving vegetable and livestock farm enterprise.

 

1. When and how did you get interested in agriculture and agribusiness?

 

1. I first got interested in agribusiness at the age of 10 when I would accompany my mother to Limpopo, South Africa to buy vegetables which we would later resell to our neighbors in Botswana. I loved visiting the beautiful and well-managed farms, and wondered why we couldn’t have the same in Botswana. After my university studies and a short stint in a white-collar job, I quit to pursue agribusiness on a full-time basis. From my evaluations, I found that my mother was making more per week from her vegetable business than I was!

 

1. Who or what inspired you to get into this profession?

 

1. Initially, I saw vegetable production as a venture to make quick cash while providing my mother and her fellow business women fresh and easily accessible vegetables. However, over time, I have been converted into a real farmer and now enjoy the entire vegetable production process: from nurturing the seedlings until they are a sellable product. I am also passionate about making a difference in my community, country and continent through agricultural development and growing the enterprise. This has made be stronger and more resilient as a business woman.

 

1. What was your first agribusiness venture? Would you say it was successful? What lessons did you learn from it?

 

1. My first business venture was vegetable production; which I got into without any prior knowledge or expertise. I hadn’t anticipated the challenges posed by various weather conditions such as drought and floods, or the lack of market access for local farmers in Botswana. I found myself very frustrated by the complex procurement processes of the supermarket chains who largely sourced from South Africa, and was often forced to sell at low prices as I didn’t want to be left with rotting produce inside my farm gate.

 

1. How many ventures have you had since then? How do you get your products to stand out from the competition?

 

1. From the initial one, the company has grown into three diverse ventures, which together form the Kungo Farms Group. These include:

 

Kungo Vegetables, a 35-hectare farm on which we produce vegetable and have plans to venture into full-time fruit production after a successful pilot with mango, orange and grape fruit trees.

Pii Jena Ranches, a 3600-hectare livestock farm where produce calves that are better adapted to local farming conditions by crossing temperate with indigenous breeds of cattle to achieve more vigor.

Kungo Consultants, a newly formed agribusiness marketing consulting company through which we aim to redefine how consumers view farm fresh products; and positioning them as a more nutritious, healthier and more attractive choice.

I am fortunate to be in a business partnership with my husband, who has is as passionate about farming as I am, and who encouraged me to pursue further studies to professionalize our farming enterprise. I pursued two master’s courses – one in Food Science at Audencia Nantes School of Management, in France and the other in Agribusiness (majoring in Marketing), in Brazil. Thanks to the insights gained from these courses, we have been able to turn around our business and also set up the consultancy to help other farmers in Botswana struggling with the same challenges we did.

 

1. Have you ever received venture capital? How did you attract these funds? How much did you get?

 

265. Yes. I applied for and received a subsidised interest loan, at 5% annually for our horticulture business from a government institution called Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency – commonly referred to as ‘CEDA’ locally. At the time it was part of the government’s Young Farmers’ Fund and provided youth with loans up to US $ 48,265. However, this program was revised to include all sectors not just farming and still targets the youth.

 

1. Have you received entrepreneurship training or would you say you are a natural entrepreneur?

 

1. I was raised in a business environment, where I supported my mother in her venture and I also studied Business Information Systems at undergraduate level. I also studied for an MBA in Agribusiness, as I mentioned earlier. So you could say I am well-versed in business.

 

While I was at university in my early 20’s, one of my aunts challenged my choice of field of study, suggesting that I would have been better off studying medicine as I would be better assured of a job; however she added that I would at least be able to help my mother manage my mother’s oranges and tomatoes. In defiance I stood and retorted that I would never ever manage tomatoes but by a funny twist of fate, here I am today, managing a 35-hectare vegetable farm. I’m grateful to my aunt for unknowingly sparking the desire to be self-employed.  Today she’s one of my largest supporters in my professional venture.

 

Let me point out that agribusiness is a different type of business and when I started out, I didn’t have any agricultural background or training but now I can understand the kind of risks and challenges that come with running it as a business.

 

1. If you could change just three things about the agribusiness ecosystem what would these be?

 

1. Firstly, I would like to see policies in place to ensure that farmers are aware of sustainability issues and how these can affect their businesses in the long run if not taken into consideration. Next, I would like a framework created that ensures greater collaboration between different agricultural stakeholders with the end goal being the development of innovations that can change the scope of business. Lastly, I would set up capacity building for all farmers in entrepreneurship to enable them to farm more profitably.

 

1. How would this make agribusiness more profitable and fulfilling?

 

2050. Having good policies that support the agribusiness ecosystem will ensure that farmers can competitively produce affordable food, and contribute to Africa’s role in feeding itself and the world by 2050. There is also a tremendous African agriculture market potential – valued by the World Bank at nearly US $ 1 trillion – and I would like to play my part in ensuring Botswana’s and Africa’s farmers can seize this opportunity.

 

1. What advice would you give to younger aspiring farmers? What pitfalls should they avoid, for instance?

 

1. Farming is the new ‘it’; there are different ways that the youth can make it more interesting and trendy. Focus on understanding the agricultural market before you can venture into it you will be surprised at how many innovative products that can be introduced in the market. Invest in capacity building especially agribusiness because you can master how to produce agricultural products but if they do not reach the market it is a complete waste.

 

1. What is the motto that you live by?

 

1. ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’, I believe I was born to be it.

(Source: https://agra.org/news/farming-is-the-new-it-beauty-manake/ )