BiD Network Update On: Shalom Organic Farm
Joy Lwanga‘s entry into the business world was in many ways unplanned. In 2004 her husband had unexpectedly died, leaving her with four children to take care of; then in 2006 she was required to retire
from Toyota Uganda, where she worked. Nowadays she is the proud proprietor of Shalom Farm, a chicken farm, with a total production of over 3900 eggs weekly, that they supply to Shoprite, a major South African supermarket chain.
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When Joy’s husband died, he left their children some land and when she was forced into retirement, she remembered her childhood and had an epiphany: “I had to do something so I decided that the easiest would be to work with chicken. When I was younger and living in my village, I remember how the eggs used have a yellow yolk and taste so good, that I wanted to
sell those type of product. Today in Uganda, eggs rarely have yellow yolks and when they do is usually the result of colorants. Most chicken (and eggs) sold in markets are “exotic” which means the chickens are confined in housing structures and fed on pre-mixed commercial feed to speed up their growth. I only produce and sell eggs from “local chicken” or free range chickens. My chickens have space to exercise, eat green vegetation and
have natural yellow yolks”.
Hard begining
Not being properly informed and trained on how to raise chicken, Joy’s initial stock of 50 local chickens, purchased from local villagers, died of diseases. “I was disappointed but I couldn’t give up, I had no other option. I decided then it would be better to buy 1 day old chicks, so I purchased 200 and made sure I got advice from a doctor to help me: 150 of the 200 grew into chickens”. She contacted different distributors and was
consistently rejected: “my eggs were more expensive and I was discouraged by the local villagers”, she explains. Nevertheless, Joy insisted and finally Shoprite agreed to buy her eggs at the
condition that she could ensure them that they were local and not mixed breed.
“I needed to sell my eggs so I moved from one supermarket to the next. I got the deal with Shoprite by approaching the buyer on my own. He took interest in my goods and gave me a chance to try it out. By then, there were no organic local eggs being sold in supermarkets. The most difficult thing was to get bar codes and special trays to pack my eggs. I got help from family and also Shoprite guided me through the procedures”.
In two years her production has increased from 0 to 3900 eggs per week. “The demand is so high that faced with capacity constraints I convinced other villagers to breed local eggs as well and trained them. With the additional eggs from my out growers, I now manage to supply Shoprite with over 3000 eggs per week, Nakumatt Oasis with 1200 eggs and Pearl, Quick Saver and Upland Supermarkets with over 600 eggs fortnightly. At full capacity (with the 5 other out growers) we could supply over 3900 eggs per week. I have now started to sell turkey eggs as well”.
A helping hand
Joy Lwanga is one of the BiD Challenge participants, and the help she got when making her business plan is highly regarded by her.
“Before, I did not have a good business plan. I worked hard with the help of BiD Network to improve my business plan. Every time they gave me feedback I incorporated it and so improved the plan. I am proud and happy to know that I can now prepare a business plan which is good enough to be presented to international investors. I have also followed the new Ready for Equity Training offered by BiD Network. This was very helpful because I now know what equity is and what investors want”.
As she received, she also is giving others, not only by providing quality employment to local workers, but also in training local villagers to breed under Shalom Organic Farm quality standards and turning them into suppliers. “I managed to convince 5 other people to start breeding local chickens. I provided them with the training and the support to start their business. I am also the chairperson of the NAADS, a group I created here in my community (NAADS = National Agricultural Advisory Services) – It is called the Magere-Kito Women’s Group and we are 8 women who work on different farms and produce different products. I was also chosen to be the “model farmer” for my area.”
One step further
Now that business is steady and initial troubles have been overcome, Shalom Organic Farm is not only breaking even but is making a small profit. The problem Joy Lwanga faces at the moment is capacity. She simply cannot meet the demand, and even though she has started selling turkey eggs and they are the first product to sell in the supermarkets, the quantity she can supply is very small.
“I am now trying to grow my business to address the demand”. For the moment, she already has started selling chicken, on a small scale, mainly in Kampala, through two large supermarkets.
Although her eggs and chicken are more expensive, than other brands in the market, they do sell well: “I sell my eggs to Shoprite for 2600 Ug Shillings who then resells them for 3000 Ug Shillings. The so called exotic eggs will cost 1500 Ug Shillings”.
“I think I can say that it was a good choice to breed and sell local chickens and to focus on quality. Even if the price is a little higher, people want to eat good and tasty food”. She is right, and
she also wants to continue to be a supplier of quality products, but for that to happen she has to expand. “For my business to expand, I would need to supply and breed chickens on a daily basis and for this I would need to build a hatchery”.
Currently Shalom Organic Farm has 800 chickens. Joy’s expansion plan, provided she can get the capital, is to have 10.000 chickens in order to create a cycle of hatching (for the eggs) and selling the chicken at the same time.
“I intend to expand the farm by buying 10 acres; then increase the number of hens, turkeys, pigs and plant vegetables on the farm and thus increase productivity levels. We also need to do branding and advertising to boost our market share. We will have to cut water costs by pumping up from underground and install a solar lighting system to reduce electricity costs; in turn reducing feeding costs by purchasing feeds milled on the farm. Once these are in place growth of this business will be imminent”.
More information
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