By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
ZAMGOAT Products Limited has to-date procured more than 2,300 goats from the small scale farmers across the country and generated revenue of over US$150,000.
Currently, the company has invested US$50,000 in the business which has been externally sourced.
Zamgoat Products is the first dedicated commercial scale aggregator, processor and distributor of goat meat and products in Zambia.
Company chief executive officer Paul Nyembe said his firm was working with 200 smallholder farmers across the country and was able to generate revenue of more than US$150,000
Mr Nyembe said Zamgoat was a social enterprise company that aims to empower rural smallholder farmers.
He started his business with a capital investment of K2,000 in 2012, saying that during the same period, he was able to access K32, 000 from the Youth Development.
“To-date, we have worked with 200 smallholder farmers. We have been buying from over 2,300 goats and generating revenue of over US$150, 000,” Mr Nyembe said.
He said this at a business talk organised by Start up Grind in Lusaka.
Mr Nyembe said he had to look internationally to raise funding for business and was listed on such sites as the Angel Investment site VC4Africa and crowd funding site indiegogo.
He successfully attracted investment from US based angel investor fledge.
Mr Nyembe said his company would be reorganising itself in order to penetrate key markets across the country.
“We will be working on penetrating other markets such as Spar. We will be opening another outlet in Olympia in order to meet the growing demand of meat products in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Nyembe has called on the Government to provide an enabling environment for the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the country by developing appropriate policies and tax systems that support the growth of the sector.
“Our current policies especially taxes do not support the growth of the SME sector in Zambia and what the Government should do is to give tax breaks up to a certain period to allow the SME develop,” he said.
Zamgoat Products Limited was established in July 2012.