Afrique Life - August 2008
By Gabrial Constans
With the help of an Australian partner, Sylvestre Nzitukuze has built a small living lab of sustainable agriculture and husbandry for the vulnerable children who live at El Shaddai Orphanage in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
El Shaddai has about 150 children living at the center, with another 50 attending secondary and vocational schools. The residents are primarily survivors of the 1994 genocide and the AIDS pandemic, which have taken their toll on the country and its people. The youth get served 2 meals a day, attend school and sleep 4-6 per bunk bed, depending on their age and size. They also receive spiritual guidance and support from a local religious organization (C.A.L.P.E.R.S.) that holds church services at the abandoned auto garage now used for the center.
Sylvestre, who is the activity and sport director at El Shaddai and brought many of its residents off the streets of Kigali, wanted to supplement the children’s diet and raise enough food to be able to sale and raise funds for the center. With the experience of his 2-year’s of training in gardening and husbandry practices, which he obtained in secondary school (high school), Mr. Nzitukuze began planting seeds with the children in the barren, rocky (but fertile) soil behind the orphanage. As he slowly received funds for wood and wire, he started building raised hutches, cages and enclosures. Damning and redirecting the small trickle of a stream that ran through the backyard, he created 2 fish ponds and stocked them with catfish and Talapia.
The red volcanic soil that covers Rwanda is rich in iron and minerals. 80% of the population are farmers and every square inch of available land, on every hillside and valley is utilized. There are approximately 3 growing seasons, each lasting about 3 months long, for a total of 9 months during which one can plant and harvest. Abundant rainfall for three-fourths of the year makes it unnecessary to have much irrigation, though the children at El Shaddai are taught how to sprinkle water individually onto each plant with bunched straw in the dry season or when an unexpectedly long dry spell has occurred.
Using all organic products, Sylvestre and the children have successfully grown a diverse crop of spinach, corn, tomatoes, rhubarb, bell pepper, egg plant and papaya trees. Interspersed between abandoned auto parts, the playground, warehouse and bathrooms, the intermixed vegetables thrive (minus the ones eaten by the roaming chickens).
Starting out with 20 rabbits, a few chickens, geese and turkeys, El Shaddai now has over 80 rabbits, pigeons, guinea pigs and ever-increasing families of chicks and geese. Eggs and thus protein are steadily being introduced into the children’s diet. Rabbit droppings are used for fertilizer in the garden and for fish food in the ponds. “Meat is very expensive here,” says Sylvestre, “but because of the rabbits and chickens we are lucky.”
They have not been able to raise enough vegetables, eggs or meat to start selling for profit, but with a little more materials, “to keep some of the animals apart from one another and away from the garden”, the project should soon produce enough quantities for both the orphanage and for them to sale to the local community. “It’s not a big production,” says Sylvestre, “but we’ve used what we have and are showing the children what is possible when you integrate living systems, education and hard work”.
By Afrique Editorial Staff
Esther Tongo, the founder and chief executive officer of readystew enterprise, www.readystew.com, a company specializing in African ready-made stew is on her way to entrepreneurial stardom by way of an idea she envisioned several years back which has now partially materialized. Born and raised in Nigeria, Esther Tongo and her husband, Mr. Godwin Tongo, also a Nigerian native, are prodigal examples of the possibilities that America has to ofter. Both of the Tongos hold advanced academic degrees. Mrs. Tongo holds an MS in Economics and an MBA, from Purdue. Mr. Tongo, holds a doctorate (Phd) degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ohio. Tongos are very proud of their academic achievements.
Nevertheless, what really excites them, particularly for Mrs. Tongo, is the prospect of maximizing the potential of her readystew business. In an interview with Afrique, Mrs. Tongo stated that her readystew product, which she emphasizes “has no preservatives”, is a must have stew for an authentic African cooking experience. “But a prospective buyer of ‘readstew’ “, she stressed, need not be an African per se, anybody would benefit from Esther’s readystew fresh, preservative-free, stew.
Perhaps this explains the reason why students from Purdue University, after having sampled Esther’s readystew at their Cafeteria, subsequently demanded the dining executives of Purdue University that Esther’s readystew ought to be permanently placed in the cafeteria menu. Ever since then, Esther’s readystew has been a regular stapple of the food menu at Purdue University’s Cafeteria.
Esther’s readystew, which is widely sold at African and Caribbean stores throughout Chicagoland and online at readystew.com has been increasingly gaining popularity in the wider mainstream market. A perfect example is its recent addition in the Jewell-Osco Super Value store.
Wal-Mart, too, is taking a good look at Esther’s readystew and is trying to figure out where they should place it in their stores. This is a direct reflection on the quality of Esther’s readystew, a must have stew for an authentic African eating experience.
- Afrique wishes Mrs. Tongo the very best of luck in her present and future business ventures.
By Polo Radebe
Ever since the publication of the codes of good practice on broad-based empowerment in February last year, we have witnessed the announcement of significant black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership transactions. These include the Sasol transaction, estimated to be worth R26 billion ($3.4billion U.S. dollars) the Vodacom empowerment deal R7.5 billion ($0.9billion U.S.dollars) and, more recently, Barloworld, R2.4billion ($0.2billion U.S. dollars).
What is notable in all these transactions is the effort made to achieve a balance, by including as many stakeholder groups as possible. These companies have allocated shares to black entrepreneurs, employees and broad-based community groups. In the Sasol and Vodacom transactions there was the inclusion of retail public participation.
Some may argue that these kinds of deals spread ownership too thin and thereby make insignificant any effective participation by black people in the business.
A counter argument is that a sharing of economic wealth is essential to avoid perpetuating economic inequality through the creation of a few fat cats.
The right balance has to be struck between these two extremes if we’re to avoid making a mockery of the whole process.
If the transformation process is to be successful, corporate activity has to result in sustainable wealth creation, and wealth must reach the hands of black people.
Ratings agency Moody’s said in a statement in May that the BEE initiative had been an important driver of domestic corporate activity such as mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity.
“The volume of BEE transactions carried out over the past decade is substantial, with completed transactions to date representing in excess of R200 billion,” said Moody’s. “Last year alone, there were 153 transactions totaling R96 billion ($30 billion U.S.).”
Moody’s expects that these high volumes of activity will continue over the next five to seven years and that they will have a profound effect on the economy.
But does it makes sense that, 14 years after the arrival of democracy in this country, we still place importance on BEE transactions even as they continue to provide only minority stakes to black people?
The answer is both yes and no.
It does make sense because, despite all the corporate activity that has taken place, the face of local corporate ownership is still predominantly white and male.
There are, of course, some smatterings of color that have emerged. The bottom line, though, is that the capital accumulation process for black people is still in its infancy - hardly meaningful at all.
On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense, because the empowerment process should result in the significant, if not outright, ownership of economic assets by black people. Currently it is not doing so.
The only way of ensuring that this will happen is by promoting entrepreneurship among black people. In this way, black people would have more of a say in how their companies are run and they would be in charge of their own economic destiny.
Most importantly, such an approach would ensure that empowerment contributes more meaningfully to economic growth and development through job opportunities as a result of the creation of sustainable black businesses.
Of course, deep pockets are essential to achieve the second scenario.
The promotion of black entrepreneurs is the most desirable scenario, but selling stakes to black individuals is important, Had it not been for earlier BEE deal, the likes of Mvelaphanda would not have had the capital to make a R90 billion bid for Telkom. Nor would we be witnessing the consolidation that is taking place among empowerment companies.
So while minority BEE deals should be encouraged to provide color to the face of ownership of corporate South Africa as we know it, this is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end.
In the past year, firms have been outdoing each other to appoint black people to strategic positions. Tiger Brands, ArcelorMittal and Standard Bank have all announced the appointment of black male chief executives.
This is a cause for celebration, as it has taken such a long time to get to this point. It didn’t always seem possible - at least not in our lifetime.
It used to be common practice for companies to appoint only black people in non-core areas of their businesses. But the codes deliberately encourage the appointment of black people in the positions of chief executive, chief financial officer and chief operating operator. At the time, corporates were up in arms, claiming that they could not find black people with sufficient expertise for these roles.
I am glad to witness black people starting to come out of the woodwork, as evidenced by recent corporate appointments. As they say, what gets measured gets done.
Yet despite this progress, South Africa remains one of the world’s most unequal economies. The inability of individuals, households and entire communities to command sufficient resources to satisfy an acceptable minimum standard of living underpins poverty.
In recognizing the need for a more inclusive empowerment initiative that would ensure shared growth, the BEE commission made a number of recommendations in its 2000 report. Key among them were that future initiatives needed to focus more on the success of small and medium businesses, to ensure that trickle-down effects of BEE initiatives improved the quality of life for ordinary South Africans.
The commission recognized that this was the greatest challenge, given the socioeconomic inequalities and the structural deficiencies of the country.
The challenge for these new captains of industry is to translate these advances into meaningful transformation of the whole economy. The draft strategy on broad-based BEE released by the department of trade and industry in 2003 states that one of its objectives is for broad-based BEE to result in shared economic growth.
This sharing of growth will be achieved not so much by BEE ownership transactions, but mainly through skills development and employment equity.
An environment conducive to establishing business opportunities for black entrepreneurs, who may not be interested in owning 25 percent of traditional companies or occupying senior positions in such corporates, will help achieve this goal.
We have already started seeing pockets of disenchantment among many South Africans who have not reaped any rewards from the strong economic performance of the past five years.
Companies that until now have not given enough attention to their BEE strategies have no time to waste. They could make a start by looking at areas of the scorecard that create sustainable job and business opportunities.
