Large scale honey production

Honey and tomatoes in the Malawian Mzuzu

Kwithu Kitchen was founded in 2013 in Mzuzu, the capital of Malawi's northern region, by entrepreneur Anna Msowoya and her partner John Keys. Originating as a social project offering nutritious meals to poor children, the business grew over the past 10 years into a high-growth business processing tomatoes and honey.

Programme Coach
Marcel Christianen

Kwithu Kitchen is the largest producer of honey and one of the larger processors of tomatoes in Malawi; their products can be found on the shelves of the Shoprite and Chipiku department store chains. Until recently, the same supermarkets sold only processed tomato products - ketchup, tomato paste and canned tomatoes - imported from South Africa. With the devaluation of the Malawian currency, it is much more economical to process local tomatoes.

This economic activity is bursting at the seams: in 2023, the team of 30 employees sold an average of 4 tons of honey and tomatoes per month. The growth potential is great, and an exploratory feasibility study quickly showed that Kwithu Kitchen is an ideal candidate to become an Exchange growth program.

Renewed business plan and new factory

Our contribution begins with renewing their business plan. In view of their strategy 24-26, coach Marcel Christianen drafted a business plan model, which will be refined by Kwithu Kitchen in the coming months. Based on the business plan, the coach plans together with the entrepreneurs behind Kwithu Kitchen the right expert missions - both long and short term - to realize the growth plans.

Some elements have already been identified for which Exchange can provide the necessary expertise. For example, Kwithu Kitchen plans to establish a new factory unit on better located land, which will allow the company to process honey and tomatoes on a larger scale. Further product diversification may also accompany the growth of their operations. Further steps can also be taken around financial planning and training of central staff. In recent months, we have communicated tirelessly with Kwithu Kitchen to outline a solid growth program that will undoubtedly yield great results in this cycle.

High quality dairy products

Got milk?

Maddo Dairies is a dairy processing plant with about 30 employees, established in 2003. It is profiled as a social enterprise and is owned by the Catholic Diocese Masaka. Each day they receive 5,000 to 10,000 liters of raw milk, which is processed into pasteurized milk and yogurt at their factory. The raw milk is collected from farmer cooperatives and the company also has five collection centers where the milk is collected. The milk is processed in a newly built factory that has been in operation since December 2021. The goal of Maddo Dairies? To produce high-quality dairy products while improving the livelihood of local farmers.

The dairy company came to Exchange for the expertise needed to implement their strategic plan. With that plan, they want to increase revenue from various dairy products by training staff in product development, machine supervision, sales and marketing.

Specifically, Maddo Dairies wants to increase their milk production by 20% in the near future, increase sales through better marketing and branding, and develop a more diverse product offering. An initial mission by volunteer Jan Sysmans focused on establishing standards and procedures, working out quality systems and assisting in the start-up of equipment for ice cream and semi-skimmed milk.

Maddo Dairies has already made great strides in recent years and laid foundations for its further growth, which will undoubtedly be realized in the coming years.

 

High quality grain

A textbook example of North-South cooperation

Founded in 2014, Rabboni Group Limited is a transport, distribution, trading and processing company of dry agricultural commodities. Their focus is on maize and derived products, in which they handle the entire supply chain from producer to consumer. A formula that works, but was ready to scale up: Rabboni wants to increase their grain processing and storage capacity from 4,000 to 20,000 tonnes as soon as possible, an ambitious goal that requires careful preparation.

Programme Coach
Wim De Deken

So, although Rabboni was already making great strides in homeland Uganda, they were looking for expertise regarding the qualitative and quantitative growth of their operations. By 2022, the time had come and Exchange partnered with Rabboni to address three needs: branding, marketing and quality control. After a feasibility study in February 2022, it became clear that branding and marketing were not a main focus, and Rabboni's needs shifted to two elements: reviewing operational practices, corporate culture and quality control, with the aim of achieving ISO 9001 & 22000 certification (quality), and building a new process plant, including silos capable of accommodating increased grain production (quantity).

Quality control

To get quality control (QA) on point within Rabboni, a number of grain company employees attended training sessions around quality and certification. Based on the training, structural changes were implemented in the company: not only were processes optimised, Rabboni even decided to rebuild their facilities from scratch, fully compliant with professional quality standards.

Those quality standards are essential for scaling up their production. The natural toxin Aflatoxin is common and very dangerous for grain production; if the grain is treated poorly, it can lead to contaminated products and carcinogens. This quality control naturally starts with the farmer himself, but it is essential for Rabboni to have its own plant to check the grain samples; that is why the company built its own laboratory, which is up to date with contemporary quality standards thanks in part to quality training.

Factory expansion

With the help of coach Wim de Deken, contact was made with Belgium's Meyland, which could supply four silos to Rabboni's specifications. A commercial proposal was made, but the investment was too expensive for the grain processing company for the time being. At Meyland's invitation and supported by Exchange, CEO Daniel Joloba came to Belgium for a week to meet some investors and visit the Bulk Solids Expo in Antwerp.

The purpose of the visit? To find alternative funding for silo installation and convince investors, both at the hardware and sales level, to invest in Rabboni. Traditional financing in Uganda is feasible, but would be a process of at least 25 years; time that Rabboni does not have if they want to scale up their production to such an extent. Local grain farmers have to be paid cash and grain cannot be sold immediately; so Rabboni needs enough funds to buy grain and store it long enough - without letting it degenerate - before it can be profitable.

An ambitious goal, then, but not unachievable. With the right funding, Rabboni can install the necessary technology to scale up their production at lightning speed. A win-win situation: not only will Rabboni be less dependent on third parties and be able to become a major player within Uganda themselves, the family income of local farmers will also increase. Combine this with the exchange of expertise, training and funding from Europe, and you have the perfect example of a sustainable North-South collaboration.

Flanders and Exchange go hand in hand in Malawi

Twice illustrated

Flemish Development Cooperation supports the improvement of agriculture in the northern part of Malawi with its SEED program. We at Exchange have an excellent relationship with Flanders and are looking for ways how - complementary to what Flanders is doing - we can further strengthen a number of projects. In a nutshell, that complementarity means that Flanders supports those initiatives financially, while Exchange helps SMEs grow by transferring expertise and knowledge. Two examples of how this works:

Hortinet, a daring experiment ripe for a Nobel Prize.

Frankie Washoni is CEO of Hortinet, an organisation that wants to stop the decline of Malawi's banana crop. Malawi was an exporter of bananas until the ‘Banana bunchy top’ disease destroyed up to 80% of Malawi's banana production. Frankie sought support to do something about this and found his answers mainly through Google: he promptly built the first commercial lab in Malawi that produced virus-free bananas via tissue culture. This was very successful for six months; thousands of virus-free banana plants found their way to as many as 600 farmers. Production picked up again, thanks in part to the financial support Frankie received from Flanders.

Programme Coach
Jan Aertsen

But suddenly everything stopped; the laboratory itself did not remain virus-free. Exchange coach Jan Aertsen visited the company in March 2022 and started looking for solutions together with Frankie. He contacted Professor Ronny Swinnen, a man with unique expertise in the field. Prof. Swinnen put us in touch with Delphine Amah, whom he trained and who worked at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture - IITA - in Nigeria. Exchange invited Amah to share her knowledge with Hortinet, and she did just that. During her visit in August 2022, the Hortinet lab was able to start up again and arrangements were made to give the Malawian staff additional training in Nigeria. Today there are more than 2,000 farmers on the waiting list, ready to restore banana production in Malawi and stop imports from Tanzania and Mozambique - which sinds the collapse of local production accounts for more than 90% of Malawi's banana consumption.


Ziweto stops import of expensive fodder

Ziweto is a collective of about a dozen veterinarians that distributes veterinary medicine throughout Malawi's territory, thanks in part to financial support from Flanders. But Ziweto sees another opportunity to make a leap forward concerning Malawian livestock farming: the collective wants to make and distribute livestock feed using local raw materials, so that livestock farmers do not remain dependent on expensive, imported feed.

Programme Coach
Guy Callebaut

Following a visit by Exchange coach Guy Callebaut to Ziweto earlier this year, Exchange was able to persuade a few experts at AVEVE to put their shoulders to the wheel: Marcel Christianen, who was commercial director for animal feed at AVEVE until his retirement, and his friend Dirk Bogaerts, nutritional manager at AVEVE and the person ultimately responsible for the composition of various nutritional formulas.

An effective brew

At the end of July this year, Marcel Christianen also visited Ziweto. He kept his intervention very focused, specifically on the production of feeds for laying hens, fattening chickens and fattening pigs. This visit was a great success across the board. To illustrate:

  • There was already an industrial mill at Ziweto, but it was not yet functioning. Together with the technicians of Ziweto, the mill was put into operation;
  •  With online backup from Dirk Bogaerts, 24 feeds were created and three formulas were effectively produced;
  • A suitcase full of feed and raw material samples was taken for analysis to the lab of AVEVE in Belgium. Ziweto itself already has a number of devices to perform that analysis: by comparing the results in Belgium with those in Malawi, the accuracy of Ziweto's measuring devices can be verified;
  • Preparations have been made for a training of two central staff in Belgium later this year.

Or how Exchange plays a role on two fronts to mix things up successfully: on the one hand, we mix Flemish funding with expertise from AVEVE and with the enthusiasm and expertise of Ziweto's veterinarians, while on the other hand, locally produced soybeans, maize and derivated products are brought together in high-quality animal feeds.

Clearly a win-win situation: a revenue model for Ziweto, with the end product being affordable and qualitative cattle feed for many Malawian cattle farmers.

 

Events Factory - Ready for the future

Expert wanted!

Events Factory is looking for expertise in 'Feasability Study & Market Analysis' and 'Digital Products & Rental Services'. Interested? Click the button on the right for more information!

Events Factory was founded in 2006 by Rwandan entrepreneur Celestin Makuza and has since grown into a healthy company with 14 employees. Although Makuza initially marketed his company exclusively as an event coordinator, local clients can now turn to Events Factory for a full service package: not only organising events - digital and otherwise - but also setting up expos, arranging accommodation and even providing simultaneous interpreters are now part of Events Factory's offering.

Yet Makuza felt it was time for the next step. As a professional conference organiser (PCO), he wants to enter the international market with Events Factory, further professionalise services and internal processes and thus grow sustainably to become the pre-eminent provider of innovative solutions and services in Rwanda. To streamline this growth and ensure that further expansion is tackled strategically and proactively, Exchange vzw will join Makuza at the table to put Events Factory through a strong growth programme.

In recent years, the company itself has already made great strides. What started as a one-man business with one office space has since grown to include several offices and storage areas, with additional storage areas - both nearby and in a new zone near the airport - in the pipeline.

Programme Coach
KarenWouters

Karen Wouters

Karen Wouters, Ph.D. recently came on board as a programme coach. Her interest & belief in the power of international partnerships and extensive experience in organisational, team and personal development make Karen the perfect coach to support Rwandan entrepreneurs in their business growth.

Now Makuza is looking to Exchange for expertise and guidance in building his business. Not only does he want to tap the international market and also serve multilateral organisations, private companies and the Rwandan government, the focus will also be on professionalising and expanding two lines of business. On the one hand, the rental of material and equipment will be streamlined - less ad hoc and more as a permanent service, while on the other hand, digital products and systems will be optimised to develop a clearer, more professional offering.

To oversee this growth, Exchange will provide a PCO expert to better organise the current operation, a software engineer to help fine-tune the digital event systems and enough knowledge and expertise in inventory management, business development and organisational design to make the whole company a well-oiled machine.

 

Events Factory has already built a strong reputation for itself and fits perfectly within the scope of the Exchange growth programmes. At the head of the company is a passionate entrepreneur with a large network, a customer-centric approach and a huge commitment to his team. In return, that team - educated and highly competent - always does what is necessary, even in peak periods when productivity needs to be doubled. A promising project with a lot of potential and achievable areas for improvement, which the team from Exchange will enjoy working on immensely between now and September 2025.

Wood Habitat, a promising company!

 

 

Experten Team
Philippe Vandorpe
Bedrijfspartner
Register your company to become a partner!

Personal project becomes professional company

 

Wood Habitat was founded by the young female entrepreneur Paradis Imfura. It all started as a personal project but quickly developed into a professional company with a good reputation. Paradis uses local materials and focuses on creative designs and quality details. Because she is very open towards a close collaboration with her customers, the demand for beautiful locally produced furniture keeps increasing. In 2015 Wood Habitat started with its own wood workshop focusing on custom made furniture designs. Recently Wood Habitat also started producing doors and interior accessories.

Wood Habitat provides jobs to 40 people and trains a big number of young people. At least 30% of its employees is in training. Trainees get offered a permanent contract after finishing their traineeship. Wood Habitat offers decent jobs: permanent employees receive several social advantages.

What do you want to do ?

Big ambitions, intense growth programme

The ambition of Paradis is big: towards 2024 she wants to at least triple Wood Habitats turnover and create not less than 120 stable jobs. Except for Rwanda she also wants to sell her furniture on the Congolese, Ugandese, Kenian en Burundese market. She also aims to get a great client satisfaction: selling a product means the start of a profound client relation. She also would like to be the first in the East African Community (EAC) to sell upholstered furniture. Until now, all upholstered furniture is imported from outside EAC.

To reach this ambition Wood Habitat will have to improve several domains in the company: the production speed and the quality has to progress, if Wood Habitat wants to maintain and enlarge its clientele.

The growth progamme will focus on quality control: there is a need of quality templates for each product and technical sheets for intermediate check. Also cost control will be addressed: for each product there will be an estimation of work time and material. The teams of Wood Habitat will also get a specific training: the goal is to have a specialised team for each of the products but also have teams responsible for specific departments in the company, like waste management, security and cleanness, energy and resources. The Exchange coach Robert Myncke will help Paradis to achieve her goals. Also the use and maintenance of wood machinery will be checked by an Exchange wood expert. Exchange will also look for an upholstery expert to give Paradis a specific training on this topic.

The entire Exchange team is looking forward to this promising and very diverse growth programme!

Custom made furniture designs

in Rwanda

High standard dairy products for Rwanda

Blessed Dairies

Bedrijfspartners
Inex Image result for icon link

Rwanda, the ideal dairy country

Rwanda is an ideal country for dairy production thanks to its stable climate and good infrastructure. Milk collection centres are located all over the country and a lot of Rwandese have their own cattle.

Rwandan entrepreneur Milton Ngirente installed in 2004 several milk kiosks in the city of Kigali where people could buy raw milk produced by farmers’ cooperatives. But he quickly noticed a lot of surpluses, so he started with a small production unit in 2012. A few years later the dairy company Blessed Dairies was born. Nowadays Blessed Dairies sells and distributes several milk products in Rwanda. Thanks to the production of various milk products such as pasteurized milk, cream, mozzarella and yoghurt, Milton can create added value. Nevertheless the company still faces a lot of challenges, that’s why Milton contacted one of our Business Development Managers to ask for Exchange support.

Feasibility study by Flemish dairy company Inex

In August 2019 Milton Ngirente was very happy to welcome Catherine Gilain-Pycke to conduct a feasibility study at Blessed Dairies. Catherine is the managing director of Inex  and was one of the leading persons to develop this Flemish family company into one of the biggest players in dairy business in Belgium.

After a positive feasibiliy study Catherine decided to get involved in this new Exchange Growth Programme with Blessed Dairies as a coach. In October 2019 Milton Ngirente traveled to Bavegem to see the impressive production unit of Inex. Milton and Catherine also made a first draft of the growth programme.

Growht programma with several goals

The growth programme with Blessed Dairies that started at the beginning of 2020 has several objectives: first of all the strategic management and the marketing plan of Blessed Dairies needs an update. Also the improvement of the quality management will be a main issue to address. Blessed Dairies also wants to improve its processes and production techniques. Last but not least Inex will also advice Blessed Dairies regarding the ideal machines for dairy production and the lay out of the new production unit.

The first phase of the growth programme has been finished. Evariste Mariyamungu was welcomed by Inex in January 2020 for an intensive internship of 10 days. Inex provided an interesting programme tailormade to the objectives of Blessed Dairies. In 2020 Blessed Dairies is now taking action with all the lessons learned to improve Blessed Dairies. Inex is available at any time for advice and will support Blessed Dairies from a distance. In 2021 we will evaluate if a second coaching mission by Catherine is necessary and if any specific expertise is needed by Blessed Dairies. To be continued!

Inex, a family run dairy company with a sustainable vision shares its knowledge

in Rwanda

INEX
Inex, producer of drinking milk, yogurt and cream, is a fourth-generation family business and a pioneer in sustainability. With an annual production of 240 million liters and more than 400 employees, this company represents a great social commitment. Inex has its own solar energy park, is working on reducing CO2, saving water and ecological transport. In addition, animal welfare is a priority with special attention to pasture milk. By monitoring the sustainability of its suppliers, Inex is also an inspirator and role model.

Upgrade to zero waste

Cederberg Municipality

 

Programme Coaches
Anne Vandeputte

South Africa puts an increasing focus on sound waste management. The rainbow nation calls on its municipalities to actively pursue a sound policy in which the local residents play an important link in waste management. Together with the municipalities of Bergrivier and Witzenberg, Exchange is already fully committed to supporting these local initiatives.

The municipality of Cederberg, located north of Cape Town in the Western Cape, is now also starting such a zero-waste initiative. With our accumulated experience and knowledge, Exchange is the ideal partner for Cederberg to assist in its mission. Indeed, Exchange will provide technical assistance and know-how to strengthen waste management and promote recycling initiatives together with existing recyclers. By working together with existing recycles, or local self-employed people and companies that are already active in recycling waste, the partnership also creates important economic opportunities!

The focus is on responsible management of the waste flows through maximum sorting at the source of the recyclable waste flows, reuse of organic waste by means of composting and support for recycling companies in the implementation of their business plans. In addition, awareness programs will promote waste sorting at source and work will be done on sustainable transfer stations and return points.

Clean tourism between the rocks!

in South Africa

Zero-waste toerisme!

Unique to the partnership with Cederberg is that waste management will not be the sole focus. In a second programme, the focus will be on promoting tourism. That is why the municipality of Cederberg and the local Chamber of Commerce and Tourism are jointly examining how the recycling activities can be further developed. There will be special attention for the relationship between the promotion of tourism in the region and the preservation of nature free from litter!

Would you like to learn more about our tourism program with the municipality of Cederberg? Read more on this page!

Clean tourism between the rocks!

Cederberg Municipality

 

Programme Coaches
Wouter Danckaert

Cederberg Municipality is located North of Cape Town in the Western Cape of South Africa and has a number of unique tourist assets that are not yet fully exploited. The municipality has beautiful rooibos plantations, beautiful rock formations, unique flora and many beaches.

The rock formations in particular offer the opportunity to boost the tourist sector in Cederberg: because of their unique location and shape, they are extremely suitable for climbing activities, especially for bouldering.

Upgrade to zero waste

in South Africa

The aim of the municipality is to develop these bouldering activities in the context of sustainable tourism in consultation with the local population, to put Cederberg on the map as one of the top destinations to practice this climbing sport. Local entrepreneurs can respond to this tourism as much as possible by offering dining and sleeping facilities or by serving the niche market with climbing equipment and accompanying tools! Coach Wouter Danckaert will initially assist the municipality in drawing up an ambitious and realistic tourism strategy!

Zero-waste tourism!

But Cederberg does not focus solely on promoting tourism in the region. Preserving its natural beauty through proper waste management is also one of the top priorities. For this topic as well, Exchange is the ideal partner!

Read how we support Cederberg in the design and implementation of its waste strategy on this page!

Reduce, reuse & recycle

3R

Programme Coach
Vincent Van Horenbeeck
Compnany partner
Subscribe yourself as a candidate!

Mozambique produces 3.5 million tons of waste per year, i.e. an average of 120 kilograms per inhabitant per year, around 9 thousand tons per day throughout the country. Only 2% of this waste receives adequate treatment today. The remaining 98% of waste still goes directly to landfills and causes environmental and public health problems.

However, with the right attitude, waste can even be properly assessed as a resource, a material that can be recovered and made into new products.

Therefore, concrete work is being done by 3R, or "Reduzir, Reusar e Reciclar Limitada" (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) in the cities of Maputo, Beira and Vilanculos. 3R provides integrated waste management services for extensive and large organizations and builds waste processing infrastructure throughout Mozambique. Her vision is the creation of a clean environment for current and future generations through the transformation of the waste sector in Mozambique.

Ecology & Job Security

At the moment, waste is sorted at the source as much as possible and collected both from the large companies and from the "Ecopoints", 3R's collection points which are strategically spread over the city and its suburbs.

Together with its 50 employees, 3R also provides indirect job security to the now more than 1000 collectors in the city. 3R's transformation of the waste sector will give the least-favored Mozambicans a full-fledged job and make the environment cleaner for current and future generations.

Moreover, materials such as PET, HDP and aluminum can now get a new life. In a next phase, even more waste streams will be included in this recycling circuit, such as liquid and medical waste.

Under the guidance of coach Vincent van hoorbeeck, managing partner of 'Impala', a collaboration between 3R and Exchange has recently started with the aim of building up at least 3 waste processing facilities and achieving a full ISO quality certification that allows them to grow to a medium sized company. In addition, 3R also wants to convert PET into reusable products (tiles, packaging straps, building blocks, ...) for sale on the local / regional market as an alternative source of income. We wish 3R, our coach and team of experts every success!