Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone ::Turning past failures into present success: Finding international markets for mangoes from The Gambia

[Bulls n Bears]

 <http://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

 

 

In 2014, seasoned entrepreneur Momarr Mass Taal launched Tropingo Foods, a
food processing and exporting company that adds value to local crops for
export.

Today, Tropingo Foods is one of the largest processors and exporters of
processed foods in The Gambia, creating employment for over 250 women and
youths. It processes and exports dried mangoes and groundnuts from the
Gambia to different places around the world, but mainly to Nigeria, Senegal,
the Netherlands, and China.

The majority of staff are women earning an income and developing themselves
professionally.


How did this all start?


Mangoes liberally grow everywhere in the Gambia but the majority of the
yearly harvest goes to waste due to lack of market opportunities.

Taking the lessons from his previous failed ventures, Taal established
Tropingo Foods to create sustainable market access for local produce by
developing value chains and producing value added goods, mainly for export.

“At the moment we are a strictly export-focused company because the Gambia
is a small market,” says Taal. “We have had quite some success in the last
two years and have impacted the lives of rural communities where surplus
mangoes are grown.”

Over the years, Taal has been able to increase Tropingo Food’s production
efficiency without affecting its quality. For instance, he has moved the
company’s production from manual slicing on cutting tables, to a slicing
machine with conveyor belts. This increases the quantity of mango slices per
minute, gives a uniform quality product, and saves cost in terms of labour
hours. The company is also utilising and converting its waste to energy,
unlike before when they had huge waste from getting rid of the groundnut
shells. “Now we convert that into biogas to power our mango facility,” says
Taal.


How did the company grow into the business it is today?


Tropingo Foods works with thousands of smallholder and commercial farmers,
as well as traders in The Gambia. In the mango programme alone, it works
with 290 orchard owners.

“When we started the factory, we were producing three tons of dried mangoes
per year. Now, we are at 50 tons capacity. We are hoping to expand our
production capacity to 100 tons in the next two years.”

Taal’s effort hasn’t gone unnoticed. He has received several global awards
and recognition for his business and community involvement, but he shies
away from talking about his achievements.


Surely there must have been challenges


Taal says agribusiness is a capital-intensive venture and money is a big
part of moving the business forward.

“Starting a business is a very expensive proposition and doing business on
little money may not get you the result you need, especially in the
agriculture sector where the upfront cost is usually high,” says Taal. “You
may have the skill or the technology know-how, but without money or knowing
how to generate money for your business quickly, you are unlikely to go very
far.”

Another challenge is the technical capacity of staff. Currently, in this
part of Africa, people are more services oriented, he says. “We had to get
the technical capacity we need to run our factory from abroad, because the
vocational training is not available here. We are currently pressing the
government to address this problem as the needs of the economy are shifting
and there is more need for technical competence.”

Value addition and processing in Africa, where supply chains are still
largely informal, is another challenge. This makes it difficult for
processors to have consistent supply of quality raw materials, because a
farmer cannot predict how much yield he will be able to supply. “You
basically have to go and buy whatever quantity they have,” says Taal.

He believes African agricultural sectors needs to be organised in a way
that is more conducive for processors. “We need to look at the entire value
chain in a more systematic way whereby a farmer can give a certain
guaranteed amount of tonnage at a time to inspire investment in the sector.
For your factory to be profitable you have to be producing at a maximum
capacity and you need bulk buyers who can buy all your production.”

Within the next five years, Taal hopes to invest heavily in the Gambia by
increasing the factory’s production capacity, while making Tropingo Foods
one of the largest food processing companies in West Africa.

To attain this, the company will have to partner with the international
agricultural sector and wants to increase the number of farmers they work
with.


Anything we can learn from his experience?


Taal says the best way to learn is through failure. “The reason I know, and
I am as conscious as I am now, is because I have failed spectacularly in
this sector before. I lost everything I had at one point but it taught me a
lot of lessons.”

Nevertheless, Taal says honesty and trustworthiness should be the watchword
of any business person. “I think people underestimate how far your
reputation will take you in business. You can be the smartest business
person, but if you don’t have integrity and the humility to know when you
are wrong, or when you don’t know something, you may not succeed.

“Before starting a business, the most important thing is to do your
research. Know your business. Know the business environment and how to
operate in it. Consider where your revenue is going to come from and if your
idea is bankable. No matter how experienced you are, each country is
different and has its own dynamics. You need to be familiar with those
dynamics if you want to thrive.”—Howwemadeitinafrica 



Momarr Mass Taal

 

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Telephone:    <tel:%2B263%204%202927658> +263 4 2927658

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:    <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

Website:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AF
QjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw 

Blog:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1
&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:                  @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:               Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:
<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimba
bwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA>
www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 129428 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20181030/f6246ae7/attachment-0001.bin>