Understanding The Pipeline of Support for Nutrition-Sensitive SMEs in Mbeya.
This article is part of series of articles capturing information about Nutrition-Sensitive businesses in Tanzania. The program is a part of the work Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Tanzania is doing in partnership with Sahara Ventures.
Mbeya nutrition-sensitive SMEs ecosystem is still at the nascent stage with very few players engaged in the ecosystem. Most of the SMEs engaged working in the nutrition sector primarily are involved in the dairy business. The main actor in the ecosystem is SIDO Mbeya who supports the SMEs through technical training, technology transfer, and access to shared production places. SIDO Mbeya has built two production shades one of the shades primarily targeting SMEs involved in the value addition of food products. Some of the other players involved in supporting SMEs in the region include; Plan International, Rikolto, Heifer International Tanzania, PUM Netherlands, NMB, TCCIA, TPRI, and Premaco.
Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (TCCIA) is among the active members of the Mbeya nutrition-sensitive SMEs ecosystem. The public agency is providing services to small and medium enterprises on business formalization, and capacity building. The agency is also actively involved in business promotion activities including organizing trade fairs and marketing programs for SMEs. The chamber of commerce is a public entity that was established in 1988 with an important role in the privatization and liberalization of Tanzania's economy.
Heifer International Tanzania is an active international NGO working to support dairy farmers in Tanzania. Their focus in Tanzania is to increase local farmers’ income through the dairy and poultry value chains. Their work in Tanzania primarily focuses on strengthening access to local markets through business planning, marketing, and establishing collection centers. The organization has been supporting SMEs of the like of SEBADOM Milk to improve the quality and standards of their dairy products. The organization offers technical training and a starter kit to farmers to enhance their ability to produce quality dairy products. Heifer International is a global nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development.
Another organization involved in the ecosystem is a dutch-based organization called PUM. Programma Uitzending Managers (PUM) is an active global volunteer organization with a presence in 35 countries established in 1978. PUM's mission is to share knowledge to strengthen businesses and improve lives. The work with a network of volunteers who are assigned to SMEs in emerging markets. Some of their beneficiaries are SMEs working in the dairy business in Mbeya. They have supported them with experts from Europe who volunteer their time with the SMEs.
Promaco is a company that is also actively involved in Mbeya. Promaco is a Kenya-based company involved in the supply of specialty food and dairy ingredients and processing equipment in East Africa. The company has been offering training and support to daily farmers. Their business model is helping farmers to use their daily ingredients and eventually sell their products. Yoba4Life is also engaged in the Mbeya Nutrition-Sensitive SMEs ecosystem. The organization supports people in resource-poor countries with the local production of probiotic yogurt with proven health benefits, called Yoba. They have been working in Mbeya for years.
Access to finance is a challenge also facing nutrition-sensitive SMEs in Mbeya. Most of them are at a very early stage hence not qualifying to access financing and capital from financial institutions. CRDB and NMB were among the banks mentioned with some of the stakeholders engaged among the banks that offer support to SMEs in the region. Some of the stakeholders engaged also mentioned Tulia Trust Fund which offers a revolving seed fund for extremely early-stage entrepreneurs with ticket sizes ranging between 500,000 TZS to 2,000,000 TZS. The fund offers soft loans to small-scale entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers.
Other organizations involved in the ecosystem include; TAHA Mbeya who are actively involved in supporting farmers in the Strawberry value chain. Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute Uyole (MARTI Uyole) who are actively involved in the research, SNV, and Rikolto who are working to support youths in entrepreneurship by partnering with local CSOs in the region.
Case Story, Selina Facing Challenges Accessing Fresh Milk For Her Dairy Business.
Selina Kombason is the founder of SEBADOM MILK, an SME involved in the dairy business. Selina points out that the biggest challenge that she is facing is the quality of the raw material, fresh milk received from different dairy farmers. Selina relies on the farmers to be supplied with fresh milk since producing fresh milk is not her core business. The fresh milk Selina collect from local dairy farmers has not met the standards and quality of the product needed by the market. The main reason being most of the local cows she relies on getting the milk from are facing the problem of Mastitis. Mastitis is one of the most significant diseases of dairy cattle. Mastitis is an infectious disease condition resulting in an inflammatory reaction in the mammary gland of the cow.
Most of the time the milk coming from these cows is contaminated and not good for human use. The situation affects her production process including increase waste in production and effects on her capacity to produce more products. She believes with the right support to the local farmers the quality of their fresh milk will increase hence supplying her with the right raw materials to increase her production. She wishes she had significant capital to help the farmers produce fresh milk free from Mastitis. Another challenge Selina faces is industry-standard production technology. Customers complain her milk doesn’t meet industry standards. She currently, looking for strategic partners who can help her to attain advanced production technologies to ensure quality and improve her production capacity.
Case Story, Petro Sharing His Experience Working With SIDO and Challenges He Faces With Climate Change.
Petro Malila, is a co-founder of Zeppa Honey, an SME that is exercising bee farming in Mbeya. Zeppa Honey is farming both small and large bees. Petro and his team have received technical training and knowledge of farming from SIDO Mbeya. He also pointed out that SIDO has been also continuing to provide marketing platforms through different trade promotion programs and exhibitions organized by the agency. He has been actively involved in promoting and showcasing his product in all SIDO exhibitions and this has provided a platform to meet with new prospective clients.
The knowledge he received from SIDO helped him to increase his productions and also expand his business. After receiving the knowledge from SIDO is where he started to exercise small bee farming. The small bee's honey is very healthy and most of the time used for medicine. Petro shared the challenges he is currently facing due to the rising temperature caused by climate change. Recently, high temperature is affecting is the production of honey since small bees can not survive in extreme heat, and they need a moderate temperature to produce honey. Petro is very conscious of the environment and he is currently volunteering to train other farmers in bee farming without destroying the environment. There is a huge opportunity in small bee farming but there few people involved in the sector.
