Entrepreneurship Zone: 28 March 2023 :: How this Tanzanian entrepreneur built a business that exports vegetables to Europe

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Entrepreneurship Zone: 28 March 2023 ::  How this Tanzanian entrepreneur
built a business that exports vegetables to Europe

 

	
 


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Hadija Jabiri (30) never dreamt about being a farmer. In fact, when she was
at boarding school for her secondary education, working on the farm situated
at the school was dished out as a punishment. However, she knew she would
one day run her own business, already dabbling in entrepreneurial activities
as a teenager to make extra money.

Jabiri has always been a fan of Aliko Dangote, the Nigerian billionaire
business magnate, reading books on his ventures and following the growth of
his empire. She wanted to achieve what he had achieved.

In line with her master plan, Jabiri proactively registered a company,
GBRI, in her first year at St Augustine University in Mwanza, Tanzania,
where she was studying for a bachelor’s degree in business administration
and accounting. The intent was to open a manufacturing business as soon as
she could. This planned venture did materialise, with GBRI originally making
soap products but, in 2013, she was forced to re-evaluate when she couldn’t
find any finance for the acquisition of machinery needed for expansion.

While studying, Jabiri watched a television programme Amka Badilika which
showcased the success of local farmers. This sparked her interest in
farming. “I decided to use the savings and resources from my manufacturing
business and channel it into a new one, horticulture,” she says. For two
years she planned and looked for opportunities, learning as much as she
could about farming practices. Then, in 2015, when visiting a friend in the
town of Iringa, she put the plan into motion.

“Land in the area was quite cheap at that time. The weather was good, so I
thought I would give it a try. The money from my previous venture was not a
lot, around 2 million Tanzanian shillings ($862), so I had to negotiate for
everything. For example, I made a deal with the landowners to pay for the
original eight acres of land outside Iringa in monthly instalments over two
years.”

Jabiri did not want to repeat mistakes from previous ventures. This time,
she wanted to have the right expertise to ensure the business was a success.
“When I started manufacturing, I was afraid of hiring people. In some way, I
believed I could do everything myself. Even when we needed a chemist, I
would push myself to learn about it and try it. That didn’t work,” she
recalls. “For the horticultural business, I found an agronomist with 25
years’ experience from a neighbouring country and offered him a certain
percentage from our proceeds to join the team.”



Sorting of harvested french beans at GBRI’s packing house.

 

The company erected greenhouses on the land. Even before planting the first
crops, Jabiri signed purchase agreements with corporate customers including
hotels, supermarkets and one distributor that supplied vegetables to a
company preparing meals for airlines. GBRI began farming with crops required
by these customers. During 2016 and 2017, tomatoes, leafy vegetables,
capsicums and onions were cultivated. The proceeds were ploughed back into
the business.

For Jabiri, however, the business was not growing fast enough and she
investigated how they could diversify and expand their market.


Finding new markets


She believes in shouting your vision and story from the rooftops, expanding
your network and ensuring people know who you are and what you want to
achieve. GBRI needed external funding for growth and when the banks would
not grant her a loan, she targeted development institutions through her
network connections.

“In the early days of the horticultural business, I was constantly out
there, knocking on doors, looking for stakeholders in the agricultural
network so that I could connect with the head of that organisation. The
company became a member of the Tanzania Horticultural Association and we
formed ties with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania.
These organisations were publicising what we were doing and connecting us to
other stakeholders, decision-makers and funders,” she says.

Jabiri would set up meetings with policymakers and government officials to
share her vision and the impact she believed GBRI could have on the
community. At one such meeting, she managed to convince the deputy minister
of agriculture that she would one day export from Tanzania to Europe. He, in
turn, committed to sharing her details with anyone who would be able to
provide funding. These efforts paid off and GBRI’s first development funding
came in 2018 from an organisation in the Netherlands.

“It was around $100,000, followed soon after by another grant of the same
amount from USAID. With this, we could build our asset base and obtain a
loan from the local banks.”

The company changed its production focus and approach, looking at crops in
demand in the European market such as snow peas, sugar snap peas and French
beans. It also signed agreements with smallholder farmers to ensure
consistent supply to satisfy the demand it believed existed.



French beans packed for export.

 

GBRI established the brand EatFresh, under which it exports its produce
across the borders of Tanzania. The company set up the necessary
infrastructure such as a packhouse with cold rooms and procured a large
refrigerated truck to transport the vegetables to the nearest international
airport in Dodoma. It then searched for export clients.

“I always say we Googled our way into the export market,” Jabiri laughs.
“We did not have the money to attend exhibitions or go abroad to meet
prospective customers. So we searched online for a marketing platform. We
found a company based in Pakistan and had to make an upfront payment. We
took a leap of faith. Luckily everything worked out well and we got our
first international client through that platform.”


Poised for further growth


Before Covid-19, GBRI was exporting to the Netherlands and the UK as well
as to a distributor for some of the other EU countries. It also entered the
avocado industry and was steadily growing its smallholder farmer outgrower
network and the land it was cultivating. “We started with three hectares and
increased to 15 hectares. We also acquired another 200 hectares but have not
yet utilised it.”

When the pandemic put a strain on export growth, GBRI looked inward at the
local market. It currently acquires bananas in bulk from about 100
smallholder farmers near Iringa, ripening them in its temperature-controlled
cold rooms and delivering daily to local vendors to diversify its income
streams.

“As much as we are waiting for things to improve, we will not return to be
a 100% export business. It is a sustainability decision as a result of
Covid-19,” explains Jabiri, although, she is still optimistic about the
growth potential for the export of fresh produce to Europe.

“We have good weather and plenty of available arable land. We have enough
water. In terms of production, everything favours Tanzania.”



Hadija Jabiri

 


- Howwemadeitinafrica

 

 


 


 


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