Asset financing for productive growth
It has always been Noah Mukose’s passion to service farmers in his community. This motivated him to start a business supplying inputs such as seed, fertiliser, and herbicides through his agro shop established in 2011 in Katenga village of Chibombo district.
Mukose’s efforts have been appreciated by farmers who previously travelled approximately 115 kilometers to Lusaka to buy inputs using public transport. Today, the 52 year old entrepreneur has expanded his business with three more outlets in Kampashya, Lulwankule and kalebuka servicing about 2000 farmers in a radius of 25 kilometers.
This expansion brought with it challenges associated with lack of an efficient transport system for delivering inputs to the additional outlets so as to maintain adequate stock levels and meet the growing demand.
“In this business, the biggest challenge has been transportation of inputs, at times from the supplier to my main agro shop and then to the rest of the outlets. It has been very expensive for me to hire transport from Lusaka to Chibombo and to the other outlets. This cost swallowed up most of my commission and limited the supply of products to my customers,” he explained.
However, in 2014 Mukose became a proud owner of a 20MT truck under a three year lease facility by Madison Finance Company Limited (M-Finance), supported by Musika. This was as a result of a partnership between Musika and Mfinance aimed at providing asset-backed lending to intermediaries in the agricultural sector.
“I had always wanted to own my own truck and do deliveries on time, and now it has become a reality. I now transport inputs from the suppliers in Lusaka and then to my outlets at the right time. The costs have also reduced drastically from the K1, 300.00 required to deliver 10MT of products to just K500.00, so I am saving K800.00,” explained an excited Mukose.
From the time the truck arrived, Mukose delivered over 80MT of seed and over 1000 litres of herbicides compared to the previous season where he only managed to distribute and sell 48MT of seed.
Over the years, Mukose has benefitted from commercial linkages, facilitated by Musika, that have helped grow his business and farming activities. Apart from being engaged as an agent for major input companies including SEEDCO and MRI Agro, he has diversified his business to include provision of tillage services after acquiring machinery including a tractor, ripper, and boom sprayer.
