Interviewee: Yvonne Shumbanhete
AAYFO Regional Director SA Region (Entrepreneur), Zimbabwe.
Interviewer: Atlanta Mahanta, Sr. Multimedia Journalist, THE TIMES OF AFRICA
If you were to launch a startup in Africa today, what sector would you target?
If I were to launch a Startup in Africa I would target the manufacturing sector specifically I would go into the food processing industry.
Any specific reason why the food sector, out of all the sectors?
Africa has some very good rich soils and it is very easy for one to start farming but there remains a need to preserve or add value to the produce. Since the onset of lockdowns, many people are doing farming but very few are processing the food or value-adding in order to preserve or to give the market variety. They end up losing the produce to rotting or other things. Processing food helps in combining the right nutrients and improving choices for consumers. I anI see an opening in that area. Smallholder farmers and subsistence farmers produce a lot of products which some end up throwing away.
Looking at this situation of COVID19, how this startup will run as the demand for groundwork is high, do you think that this would be a good idea in this crisis?
Since the onset of the COVID 19 induced lockdown many people especially youth and women have turned to farming or just gardening. They are producing more than they need hence I do not necessarily need to do the farming myself but just to buy excess produce from these subsistence farmers. These are people doing agriculture in their backyards so they are producing products which I think needs to be preserved for the future, for post-COVID-19. The opportunity is there because so many of them have space in their backyards so most of them are turning to farm as something they are doing to pass time during the lockdown. This is an opportunity to do it because I am going into processing what is already being produced by other young people. I am about to just process and make various products that are balanced in nutrition and taste better for consumers. Helping young people make money out of their small produce while contributing to the fight against COVID by providing nutrition. This will help in ending poverty and hunger while this will be some decent work for young people leading to economic growth.
We see a lot of online innovative agriculture firms, for example, Modern Agro, they came up with a different kind of technology so that farmers can navigate and get all the data in their smartphone, using drone technology. What is your opinion on this convergence?
Technology is the way to go, collaboration with some farming technologies that are coming out now is very important especially considering the sustainability of this project. Many are doing farming at home as they are stuck at home due to this lockdown but may go back to work one day. Post COVID19 they cannot leave farming to go to work but they should continue. The technology will help a lot in keeping the projects going. It will also increase their yields on their small piece of land while preserving resources such as water which remains scarce. This will reduce the cost of running the projects. Using modern technology in agriculture would mean less investment which is good for young smallholder farmers. Being allowed to monitor your progress in the field on the go, sounds great too for young people with very busy schedules and for those who do farming as a hobby too. We are in the 4th industrial revolution and technology is the way to go and it is easing so many things.
What is the best way to attract funding and expand your startup?
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The best way is to actually look at opportunities within the context of COVID19 and I would say that we are looking at increasing nutrition because with COVID 19 there is a need for one to boost their immunity with nutritious food. In attracting funding we would align this to giving young children and pregnant women nutrition, they need to boost their immunity against COVID19. There is an opportunity to actually collaborate with the ministry and frontline workers within the fight against COVID19 for them to see a reason to actually help our startup to expand. Also, I think the best is to start with what you have and get some well-wishers to put in as we are already giving back to the community in taking the products that are being produced by young people within the community so there is an opportunity to actually use opportunities to ask for grants from different organisations in order to scale up and assist more young people to make a living and also to boost the immunity of the communities to fight COVID19. In a way, this is also feeding into the Sustainable Development Goals. We are fighting poverty and hunger while creating decent jobs. Encouraging young people to engage in farming is also a form of climate action. Working for Sustainable Development and with a mindset of Sustainable Development attracts funding.
What are the biggest challenges for African entrepreneurs today and how can they deal with them?
Our biggest challenge in Africa, right now, is that Africa did not really participate in the 2nd and 3rd industrial Revolution and as I have mentioned earlier that the 4th industrial revolution is upon us and it is affecting every sector where everything is going with technology or online but here in Africa, we are still a little bit backward in terms of upgrading technology. We are trying to fit into the 4th industrial revolution but because we are not manufacturing anything the infrastructure is too expensive for us. We sell raw materials to buy finished goods hence we end up using all our income to buy a few things. We missed at least two Industrial Revolutions hence we are trying to follow behind. As we try to catch up with what is up in the world right now some of the things change again so it is becoming a challenge to catch up.. While we missed the second and third industrial Revolution we still have opportunities to overcome these challenges through collaborations that take advantage of the global village. For example, the existence of t organizations like AAYFO is helping us learn from our peers in Asia and the ties we have will yield better results in idea sharing and coming up with more innovations that can help Africa catch up quickly. AAYFO opens up opportunities for peer learning which will change the future of Africa and improve its innovation. The future of Africa is in innovating for itself and making sure more manufacturing is done in Africa such that it becomes cheaper for Africans to use the latest technology and machinery in their projects.
Another challenge which is equally big is the inability of African Governments to fund their own startups in their countries. They can’t provide funding and support hence their startup ideas remain small and contribute little or less to the growth of their economies.
How important is finding a mentor when it comes to growing your startup?
Finding a mentor is very very important when one starts a business as a startup. It is actually important due to the fact that most of the time we are starting something with limited resources so we wouldn’t want to waste those resources. Doing some trial and finding errors, you want somebody who has gone through the same process, who knows the possible outcomes and errors to avoid and will guide you. A mentor will give you the right information about what you should do and to minimize your mistakes, your losses and to enable your startup to actually grow because the smallest mistake that you can make in a startup can cost you so much so when you have a mentor who is there to assist you and to give you the right advice and probably somebody who has gone through the road before, they can give you the right cushioning against some unnecessary blunders. It is not necessary that a mentor should be a person; it can be other sources too. We must believe in ourselves.
How should investors find and value startups in Africa?
In terms of finding startups, it is very tricky in Africa, in that sense we definitely have to go back to the issue of global villages online where people have promising startups and business models, should go online and put their credentials letting the possible investors know their existence. Investors can browse different platforms to look for the business. On the other hand, they can make calls for startups to come forward. It may also be important to work with local players to assist in identifying them as some still do not have access to the internet while others do not have the knowledge to use the internet. In the context of COVID 19 investors need not look at the current status but use the history of the individual startup’s Many startups have taken a backseat. On the other hand, there is an opportunity for investors to assist these startups and value what they have done before. How they can fix their way in this crisis situation that they are in because if we are going to look at people who are doing something within the context of COVID19 we have got so many talented young people who will be left behind.
Lastly, The one thing that I can say is for young people who intend to put up a startup together. It is always best to start something than nothing because young people take most of their time looking for investors when they haven’t started anything. Most investors are interested in something that is already existing and established. No matter how small your startup is you must believe in yourself then only investors when they come they can believe in your vision and the idea that you are giving out because so many people they can talk about ideas, in terms of implementing those ideas, it is a different thing altogether so it is best to start with what you have. I would give an example of myself when I started farming. I used my kitchen utensils as garden tools and now I’ve been able to buy some variant tools so it’s very important to start from where you are and start with what you have don’t wait as prolonged waiting becomes procrastination which is a recipe for failure.