How Tibenda fills gaps in agro supply chain

Zununa Tibenda, is the founder and managing director of Zunie Agri Consultancy (ZAC), an agribusiness consultancy with offices in Nateete.
They are also farmers and aggregate other farmers they work with. They train farmers with farming skills and offer them certified farm inputs as well as market opportunities.

Among their services, they supply fruits and vegetables in Uganda and export markets to the European Union and Asian Markets.
Her company started in 2020 by two young entrepreneurs that is after emerging as Youth Champions for eastern Uganda in Busia District. 

FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) supported by the AVSI Foundation, held a nationwide process of recognizing and awarding youth entrepreneurs in agriculture from all over Uganda. The youth champions receive technical training in different agriculture value chains and the national-level winners receive equipment and cash.

Ï wanted to move my goal and there was nowhere I would do it than coming up with a company that would create an impact in the community. That is why I started the company to address the needs and the challenges these peasant farmers were facing towards good agricultural practices and lack awareness on where to sell their products. So that’s where I come in to train them on what the market requires,” Tibenda says.
Tibenda graduated as an agriculturist from university and thought of a way of impacting the communities.

Tibenda explains that there is an information gap among the community of farmers which she will keep on filling. 
Through the technical support staff, she reaches out to the farmers with the modern knowledge and offers training to create awareness of the changing trends. Currently, she works with more than 500 farmers in Luweero, Mpigi, Mityana, Buikwe, and Buyende in Kamuli District.

She recalls using her personal finances in the early days to train farmers especially youth and women in horticulture, food security, good agricultural practices, and climate smart agriculture, among others.
She would mobilise people using the local councils and the district production officers with a view of training community members to become food secure.
“We achieved in terms of the company growth. People came to know about the company,” she says.

Acceleration 
Tibenda would later be introduced to the Agribusiness Development Centre’s Business Accelerator Program (BAP) trainings.
The four-month programme, which is powered by dfcu Limited and Rabo Foundation, helps agribusinesses to get out of the ideation phase and offer them a business acceleration opportunity. The programme uses the Business Model Canvas (BMC) approach to help entrepreneurs in planning and developing new or redesigning existing business models – to build competitive business models.

Tibenda credits the opportunity to social media marketing where her company has a strong presence.
She was chosen to be among the pioneer trainees of the training in 2023.
“I attained knowledge that I have been able to use in my business. I didn’t know about record keeping and financial literacy. I would earn and spend. Maybe a farmer comes in for consultancy and gives you Shs150,000 and I would end up buying shoes. They taught me the art of earn, save, spend,” she says.

During the training, the participants were engaged in exposure visits such as the Trans African summit that was organised by Women Economic Forum with the aim of showcasing their products to a wider market and enabling wider networking. They were also exposed to field visits at CURAD and Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) to expose them to the services that can be used to build capacity and add value to their products.

“The networks I got I hope will take me far because by the time I joined the training as Zac, we had three product lines (agribusiness consultancy, production and supplies of fruits and vegetables and sale of certified farm inputs). But after the training I got the idea of registering for export,” she explains.

The company has sent samples to potential markets and are hoping the feedback will be positive.
Zac now employs four permanent staff and two technical support staff. 
Every staff member is a member of the ZAC Sacco, which helps during the time of need.

Finding a niche
Tibenda explains that finding and serving niche markets can be rewarding and profitable for agribusiness hoping to tap into the export market.
She says this involves market research to know which products have less competition in the market to be able to earn more revenue.

“It is important for small businesses to find a way to differentiate yourself. We have done this and now know where our competitive advantage lies,” Tibenda explains.
Finding your niche is complimented by things such as quality certifications (Certified Organic, Grade A) and even the way you do business (such as Fair Trade or eco-friendly practices) which help create demand among consumers.

The future
Tibenda is enthusiastic about the future. Her vision is to become a leading exporter of fresh produce from Uganda while helping to transform peasant farmers into model commercial farmers.

She is aware that most farmers know that they need to use quality and genuine farm inputs to increase productivity, but uptake is usually hindered by the high costs of inputs and accessibility.

“My idea is from farm to fork. We need to identify farmers, give them knowledge and skills as well as quality farm inputs. When you have done that, give the farmer access to market and the farmers will be liberated,” she explains.
Her supply market averages Shs45m but hopes to triple that in the next three years something that requires huge capital investment.