A Summary of Major Investments (9/15-3/16)

During the seven months that I spent in Kwakiliga, I helped to organize and monitor several investments that I thought would put the Kwakiliga Project in an improved position of efficiency, sustainability, and profitability. It should go without saying that aside from my Tanzanian Partners, the managers and machinery of the Project, none of these investments would have been possible without the incredibly generous support of the over one hundred investors in the Kwakiliga Project. In total, you helped me raise over $11,000 to support my time in Tanzania as  well as direct support for the Project. Roughly $7,500 of that went into direct Project investments.

I will use this post, my final one on this blog, to summarize the seven major investments made into the Kwakiliga Project that took place between September 2015 to March 2016.

1. Solar Technology for Chick Brooders – $1,877

My first investment covered materials (solar panels, batteries, wiring, and stabilizer) and labor for the installation of solar technology at the chick brooders of chicken coop #1 and #2. The solar technology enabled us to have a heat source in the chick brooders, were a total of 510 chicks spent the first couple months of their lives. As chicks are very sensitive the temperature fluctuations, and Kwakiliga is not yet connected to a power grid, the solar technology was an essential investment. In the future, this investment can be used repeatedly because the Project Partners now have all the resources and infrastructure they need to raise chicks.

2. Egg Storage Facility – $2,627

Grand opening of the egg storage facility

Though I don’t have great pictures of this structure with its plastered exterior, I can tell you that it turned out great. The facility is 11.5 ft x 18.6 ft x 9.1 ft and can store more than a months worth of eggs when our chickens are laying at their highest rate. We deemed this investment necessary for a few reasons. One, it would keep our eggs safe and fresh. Previously, we have stored our eggs in small storage facilities at each chicken coop, where we also keep chicken food, tools, building materials, and the batteries for our solar technology. Eggs were at risk for being broken by falling items as well as insects attracted to our chicken feed. Secondly, building this facility allowed us to centralize the eggs from all three of our chicken coops. This gave us the opportunity to create a warehouse management system that could better organize our inventory as well as our sales.

3. Egg Carts – $1,270

To keep our eggs safe and organized in our new egg storage facility, we worked with a local carpenter to design and create 17 egg carts. They function in a way that is similar to cafeteria tray carts, in that you can remove shelves and insert them on a level of your choosing. That is, since each “tray” in our egg carts is used to hold one day’s worth of eggs, you can start the next day at a level in the cart that is just above the heigh of the previous day’s eggs. This allows us to save space and ensure that we are filling orders on a “first-in first-out” basis.

4. Egg Testing Tables – $135

We had two tables built and installed into our egg storage facility. These tables have been a great as a “holding area” for eggs that Partners from each chicken coop deliver to the egg storage facility, and as a testing surface to determine the quality of our eggs. The tables also have a few drawers, and we use these to store our record keeping books.

5. Food Pallets – $93

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of these before leaving Kwakiliga. We had three pallets built for the small storage facilities at chicken coops #1 and #2, each set totaling about nine feet in length. The advantage of having these pallets is that we can get our chicken feed off the ground where it is more susceptible to insects, rats, and temperature changes on the concrete floor that can diminish the quality of the food.

6. Medicine Cabinets  – $93

We had two of these cabinets made, one for the small storage facilities at chicken coops #1 and #2. The cabinets are used to store medicines for our chickens and chicks.

7. Repairs and Upgrades to Chicken Coops and Small Storage Facilities – $1,041

Chicken hospital

Layer buckets

Throughout the course of a year, our chicken coops inevitably experience deterioration. Repairs were necessary to coop fencing, coop doors and locks, plastering, and fence posts. We expanded the number of layer buckets and layer bucket boxes (pictured above right) to accommodate the increased number of chickens in our new flock. We also built chicken hospitals at chicken coops #1, #2, and #3, so we could have a place to isolate sick chickens from the rest of the flock. We made all these repairs and upgrades ourselves, so there was no cost for labor.

These major investments total just over $7,000. Because it can so difficult to for small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa to access capital, it is almost certain that none of these investments could have happened without your contributions. On behalf of all those associated with the Kwakiliga Project, I thank you. This was your money, and I hope you feel as though your investment was a wise one.

Meet the Partners

The Kwakiliga Project has been around since 2010. During that time, there have been seven Project Coordinators (including myself), several different directions for the Kwakiliga Project, and tens of Tanzanian Partners who were, at one point, part of the Kwakiliga Project, but who moved on, for various reasons. The nine Partners, with whom I worked for the past seven months, have been the one constant in the Project since its inception. All the Partners live in Kwakiliga and make a living, at least in part, as smallholder farmers. Going forward, the Kwakiliga Project is in their hands, as it has been for the past six years.

You all know me but you may not know with whom I worked during my time in Kwakiliga; therefore, I’ll use this post to introduce each of the Partners. Enjoy!

Blandina Gilla: Mama Gilla is the group treasurer and works with banda (chicken coop) #1. Mama Gilla’s primary responsibility with the group, other than daily duties at the chicken coop, was leading monthly profit calculations for the business. Over time, she grew into this role more and more, and really began to excel in workshops that were held for all the groups treasurers in the 2Seeds Network.

Adamu Rashidi: Mzee (elder) Adamu works on banda #1 and is the appointed agricultural expert of the group. Banda #1 was located in Mzee Adamu’s property, so he kept a constant eye on the condition of our chickens. As a highly skilled farmer, he was a great asset when we began to develop a garden around banda #1. A very kind man, he always was available to sit and chat with me and teach me about Tanzanian culture.

Michael Rubeni: Mzee Rubeni is the Market Chair of the group and works on banda #1. As Market Chair, a position he created, Mzee Rubeni facilitates all of the egg sales for the group, as well as working extremely hard to care for the chickens in banda #1. As long as I worked with Mzee Rubeni, he never stopped looking for ways to make the Kwakiliga Project better. His passion pushed me, and the other Partners in the group, to do their best. Finally, he became a very good friend and a person who I will miss a lot.

Charles Mcharo: Mzee Mcharo is a former Chairperson of the group and works very hard on banda #2. In addition to faithfully completing the daily duties at banda #2, Mzee Mcharo always took the time to do the little things in the banda to make sure it was functioning in the proper way. When other members of banda #2 were sick or out of town, he never failed to do what was necessary to keep the chickens healthy. A very dependable group member and a great man.

Joyce Keah: Mama Mwaka (she is on the right in this picture with her daughter on the left) is the Chairperson of the group and a member of banda #2. Mama Mwaka is a quiet and often reserved woman. She was not elected Chairperson of the group because she draws attention to herself but because she works extremely hard and is beloved by all the people in the group. Mama Mwaka taught me that there are many different ways to lead and influence in a professional setting. Further, she was very protective of and loving to me. She would always insist that I come to her house for meals and just to catch up.

Raymond Kupaza: Raymond is the group’s Secretary and a member of banda #2. Luckily for our group, Raymond also happens to be one of the most talented and sought after builders in the region. He is a skilled carpenter, he knows how to lay brick, and he is a maestro with a hammer and nails. He and his assistants built our egg storage facility in a matter of weeks. He was also in great physical shape, so he and I enjoyed having small fitness competitions. I won almost always.

Halima Husseini: Mama Halima was a member of banda #3. She works very hard, not only on banda #3, but also on her own farm. If I ever wanted to communicate a message to banda #3, she was my go-to person.

Aziza Yahaya: Aziza is a member of banda #3 and the daughter of Mama Halima. Aziza constantly thinks about and questions the business strategies we use in the Kwakiliga Project, which made me better at my job. During my time in Kwakiliga, Aziza became a friend and someone with whom I could easily have humorous exchanges. She is interested in developing her own fashion and salon business, and already has the loyalty of a number of clients.

Salimu Bakari: Mzee Kilango is a member of banda #3 and the husband of Aziza. Though Mzee Kilango would occasionally become frustrated with certain aspects of the Kwakiliga Project, he never let that affect his desire for banda #3 to perform well as part of the business.

Each Partner in the Kwakiliga Project brings something different to the table, which is one of the reasons I think the Project has become so successful. From a personal perspective, I will always feel grateful to the Partners for taking care of me while I was far away from family and friends. I am excited to hear how they manage the business, going forward, and am very optimistic about their ability to do so in highly competent manner.

A Warehouse Management System in Rural Tanzania

If you’re one of the millions who have been following my blog, Facebook updates, emails, and, yes, the Twitter, you have seen that I am very excited that we recently completed construction of our central egg storage facility. You will also have seen that I am JUST as excited to be able to equip that egg storage facility with brand new egg carts. These new additions to the Kwakiliga Project, in complement with other investments that were made before my time here, have created a interconnected campus of chicken and egg infrastructure that can now be governed by a warehouse management system. The system will ensure that our eggs are stored properly, are sent out according to a FIFO system (first eggs in the storage facility are the first ones we send out in orders), and are precisely tracked so that distribution of profits are as accurate as possible. It goes a long way toward achieving a competitive level of professionalism for the Project and ensuring that the Partners have everything they need to manage this business without external assistance.

Since it would be difficult to get all you out to Kwakiliga to see our system in-person, allow me to take you on a pictorial tour to show you how our operation functions.

Step 1: Gather eggs

Twice a day, every day, Partners at each of our three chicken coops gather eggs. We are currently collecting around 60 aggregate eggs a day, as our chickens are just beginning to lay, but we hope that a month from now, our daily aggregate number will be around 350. The lovely young women in this and the next picture is Mama Mwaka, the Chairwoman of the Kwakiliga Project.

Step 2: Store eggs in each band’s (chicken coop’s) storage facility

Here, we keep the eggs for two days at a time. We attach a slip of paper to each day’s egg production, so we can keep track of when they were collected.

Step 3: Bring eggs to central egg storage facility

Partners will bring their banda’s eggs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. All bandas are within 10 minutes walking distance of the central egg storage facility.

Step 4: Place eggs in holding area

Each banda has their separate space in our holding area where they can drop off two-three days worth of eggs. There they will remain until Step 5…

Step 5: Egg testing for quality

The top of this desk is our testing area. We sell almost all of our eggs in either the nearby commercial junction of Korogowe, or Dar es Salam, the commercial capital of the country. As the Dar markets are more competitive, we try to ensure, through randomized testing of eggs, that only our highest quality eggs are sold to Dar buyers. In testing, we pay attention to egg qualities such as yolk color, viscosity, and external aesthetic. The fine looking man in the following, as well as some of the previous pictures, is Michael Rubeni, the Market Chair of the Kwakiliga Project.

Step 6: Record Data

During testing, Mzee Rubeni will record the number of eggs supplied by each banda, with a breakdown of how many of those eggs are of “Korogwe quality” or “Dar quality.”

Step 7: Egg storage

After determining the quality of our eggs, Mzee Rubeni stores the eggs in our fine looking egg carts. We have a section of egg carts that are intended for Korogwe eggs (as pictured) and Dar eggs. The eggs are stored from the bottom of the carts to the top, in chronological order. We write the dates of the eggs on the drawers to help us keep track of the egg dates as well as each day’s composition by banda. The drawers in the carts can be moved up and down, depending on how many trays we have collected for a given day

Step 8: Packaging and shipping

On weekends, we text supply data to our market facilitators, who then design orders to meet our stock. On Tuesdays, we receive order information and put together shipments. In these pictures, Mzee Rubeni is putting together an order of 18 trays by 30 eggs. This order is headed to Dar.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what a warehouse management system can look like in rural Africa (Kwakiliga, in this case).

 

Mid-Year Investor Report

To Investors and Stakeholders in the Kwakiliga Project,

Since arrival in August, Jimmy and Project Partners have been working ceaselessly across the network to go full steam ahead towards Maisha Bora, the good life. There are not enough words to express our gratitude for your support along this journey.

Jimmy has prepared a Mid-Year Investor Report to capture the progress  made so far in the first half of his time working on the Kwakiliga Project this year. The report includes highlights, challenges, status updates towards project goals, and a financial report. We hope that this report will provide good insight into the work here on the ground, and show you what we have been able to accomplish thanks to your support.

 

Kwakiliga Project 2015-2016 Mid-Year Investor Report

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the Project Coordinators also filmed a video focusing on what they are most grateful for in their daily life and work here with 2Seeds.

Please support us in our ongoing journey to Maisha Bora by donating to the 2Seeds Network!

Asanteni sana from the 2Seeds Ground Team,

Ana, Jen, and Hailey

Year-End Investor Report 2014-2015

Dear investors and stakeholders,

As another year comes to a close for our Project Coordinators, we would like to take the time to review how your contribution helped make a difference in this year. Please download the document below for detailed information about the exciting developments from the past year.

Kwakiliga Project 2014-2015 Year-End Investor Report

If you are inspired by our work, please consider renewing your commitment to 2Seeds. Your donations and continued support are what makes this life-changing work possible.

Wishing you the best from Tanzania,

2Seeds Network Ground Team

Combating Deforestation

Deforestation in Tanzania has been a major environmental problem affecting a large portion of the country for many decades. Although it is difficult to determine the exact rate of deforestation, the World Bank estimates that the average annual deforestation rate between the years 2000 and 2011 was 1.13%. Astoundingly, 32.2% of the total land area of Tanzania is protected. Enforcement is difficult, however, leading to unsustainable use of forest, which can result in many major environmental issues including soil erosion and decreased agricultural productivity. For a country whose national economy relies heavily on crop production, decreased productivity can have a large impact on development. Although the ultimate cause of deforestation is complex, many proximate factors that contribute to deforestation have been identified that we have personally witnessed in Kwakiliga:

• Agricultural Expansion – Almost all land in and around Kwakiliga is used for agriculture production during the two rainy seasons. This land, for the most part, has been completely cleared save for a few scattered fruit trees. The wazee (elders) tell us often that the quality of soil in Kwakiliga is bad and getting worse. As trees become more and more scarce year after year, these wide-open farm plots are exposed to the strong winds and extremely hot sun of Kwakiliga, leaving the soil stripped of moisture and nutrients.
• Unsustainably Harvested Firewood and Timber – Most families in Kwakiliga use one of two sources of fuel to cook: charcoal and firewood. Mothers and daughters walk miles every day in search of firewood, carrying it back to their homes in very large bundles. Often, this firewood is harvested unsustainably, contributing on a small scale to deforestation; however, due to financial constraints these families do not have many other fuel source options.
• Charcoal production – Although we are unsure of the details surrounding charcoal production in the area, we know that charcoal production is a large industry near Kwakiliga. Everyday, nearly 50 men traverse Kwakiliga with two huge bags of charcoal on the back of their bikes. From a few conversations with them, they say that they sometimes travel 40km daily to transport charcoal from production sites to larger towns like Korogwe and Handeni.

There are many efforts to decrease deforestation in Tanzania. If you are interested, I suggest checking out some of the efforts of Wings of Kilimanjaro, who have an innovative approach to reforestation in conjunction with community banks. There is also the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, as well as numerous government initiatives to help preserve the forests of Tanzania.

In an effort to fundraise and do our part in combatting deforestation in Kwakiliga, we are hosting a Tree Drive. The Tree Drive starts today, April 1^st (Tanzanian National Tree Planting Day) and ends April 22^nd (Earth Day). We are hoping to plant fruit trees around our integrated garden system to provide shade, rehabilitate the soil with root penetration, and enhance water retention. We also want to plant trees on the large farms of our partners to act as wind screens, which will improve the nutrient and water retention capabilities of the soil. We have decided to plant a variety of fruit trees because the economic boost they provide will dis-incentivize unstainable harvesting of firewood. Visit our Tree Drive today and consider donating a tree to Kwakiliga!

Kwakiliga Project Mid-Year Investor Report

To investors and stakeholders in the Kwakiliga Project,

Since August, Brandon, Jeremy, and Project Partners have been working ceaselessly across the network. Through capacity building and construction, learning and laughing, challenges and a lot of chai, your support has contributed to an invaluable experience for everyone involved.

While there is no sufficient way to show our gratitude, we’re still going to try.

First, Brandon and Jeremy have prepared a Mid-Year Investor Report that encompasses progress and spending through the first half of their year on the projects. These reports provide some insight into the nature of our work, including highlights, challenges, and goals. They also give an update about the current state of finances and fundraising on the project, demonstrating just how far every dollar can go.

Kwakiliga Project Mid-Year Investor Report, February 2015

Second, these words can only convey a small portion of our enthusiasm. As a way to show our sincerity, the wanamtandao (“network members”) got together to express our thanks to you directly! Watch the video below to get a glimpse of the upendo (“love”) we experience every day.

2S Day is a day of celebration every month from our friends in Tanzania, hoping to share a bit more of wonderful progress happening in our network. Please donate to 2Seeds Network to ensure our impact can continue to dig deeper.

Asanteni sana from the 2Seeds Ground Team,

Ana, Hailey, and Cam

Water Security

In a small village of farmers, one can understand the importance of consistent access to water. In Kwakiliga, the source of water is most often rain. However, the rains in Kwakiliga are inconsistent to say the least. This season, it hasn’t rained since November 2^nd and 2 years ago it barely rained for the entire year. The unpredictable rains often lead to variable agricultural harvests and hunger seasons. Although many community members would prefer to participate in a less variable and rain-dependent activity, most do not have the means to explore other enterprises.

Although our group is not farming, we rely on water everyday for our integrated system to thrive. The chickens at a single banda drink an average of 30L of water a day, and we have estimated that each of our gardens needs a minimum of 80L of water a day to thrive. This means that for each integrated system, our baseline water usage is 110L per day. Currently, we are not water secure and do not provide 110L of water to our integrated system everyday.

In order to become water secure, we have been considering two options. The first is harvesting groundwater. The second is building pipes and spigots to each of the integrated systems. As Project Coordinators, we have been leaning toward implementing a groundwater solution because we believe it provides a long-term, self-sustaining, and consistent water solution. However, this project will take a lot of creativity, time, and money. We have done exhaustive research on the likelihood of groundwater presence and systems to harvest and transport the water, and the next step is to contract a professional groundwater surveyor for about $425 USD. On the other hand, our partners have been leaning towards building the piping system for the reason that it is a right-now and accessible solution. However, we are skeptical of the pipes because building them is costly (estimated at $1,500 USD) and the pipes that already exist in Kwakiliga are inconsistent and seem to be broken more often than they are working in the dry months.

Although there are many ideas for what a water solution should look like in Kwak, we all agree that a solution is long overdue. Thus, we have decided to officially pursue both options. We are hoping that the pipes will provide a timely solution while the groundwater survey is a step in the right direction towards finding a reliable and sustainable source of water in the future. Our next steps are to figure out a timeline for both projects and how we will finance them, so stay tuned!

-Brandon and Jeremy

The Power of Personal Finance

Those of you who have been following our project over the last couple of months may remember posts congratulating our partner, Mama Mwaka, on being the first member of the 2Seeds Network to reach a personal savings goal. As we now celebrate our second partner, Mzee Adamu, reaching his personal savings goal, we want to take a moment to talk about what it is that we hope to accomplish in setting up these goals, why we think it’s so important and what this all means for our partners and their families moving forward.

As has been mentioned in previous posts, most of our partners relied on small-scale farms as their primary source of income before joining the 2Seeds Network. In a village like Kwakiliga, where the sun is hot, the rains are unpredictable and the soil is far from fertile, one can understand why it would be difficult to find great success in agriculture. Unfortunately, with very little means to establish savings, it is next to impossible for people to invest in alternative entrepreneurial endeavors. Thus, Kwakiligan families have been trapped in a cycle of poverty for decades. 2Seeds’ aim of breaking that cycle by investing in opportunities to diversify income sources has found a good deal of success over the last two years. As the egg-selling business continues to grow, so too do our partners’ incomes. With this newfound income came a new challenge, however. Many of our partners suddenly had personal savings to manage and had very little experience doing so.

I highly recommend to all of you – particularly those of you who have, are currently or may one day live in an African nation – the book African Friends and Money Matters by David Maranz. In it, he looks at matters of personal finance through a largely anthropological lens in a variety of African nations. His observations are often general, but many of them are very relevant to what we’ve seen here and they have major implications on personal savings habits. Here are a few that stood out:

• The financial need that occurs first has first claim on the available resources
• Resources are to be used, not hoarded
• Money is to be spent before friends or relatives ask to “borrow”
• Africans tend to be very sensitive and alert to the needs of others and are quite ready to share their resources
• The response, “No”, to a request for money, a loan, or a material object is understood as an insult, indifference to need, a lack of respect, or a sign of rejection of the petitioner.

Again, these are largely generalizations and obviously do not apply to all, but we have seen first-hand the stress that one might feel having money in an environment where most do not.

Uncompleted structures are very common here, as people often begin construction of new rooms and buildings in order to liquidate assets. Should a neighbor or family member ask for a loan, there is a strong obligation to help if the money is there.

You can see in Maranz’s observations that there is a strong sense of solidarity at play. Breaking away from that, even if it means positive personal growth, can be very difficult and come at the cost of personal relationships, which are extremely highly valued here.

Having detailed and structured personal savings plans helps to alleviate some of this pressure. Virtually all of the profit generated by our egg business is put directly into a shared bank account, with records to keep track of both group and individual shares. All of our partners have also already developed goals for what they hope to do with their share of profits. Some of them are like Mama Mwaka’s goal of making crucial home improvements and will lead to happier, healthier lives; others are investments in future ventures that will help to build even greater financial security. Some of the goals are rather modest or incremental, others are quite large and may take years to reach. No matter the specifics, our goal, as Project Coordinators, is to help our partners to establish savings plans that they can take full ownership over.

Not only do these savings plans mean partners aren’t sitting on large amounts of cash, but they also help to create budgets and spending projections, which maximize savings and actually increase financial freedom and independence. Our partners work extremely hard and are accomplishing truly amazing things – we want to see them reap the full benefit of their efforts.

One of the primary objectives of the Kwakiliga Project – and 2Seeds in general, for that matter – is to see our partners achieve income security. That’s just the beginning, though. We want our partners to be able to reach their own personal maisha bora, or “better life”. Whether that’s Mama Mwaka having the house she’s always wanted, Aziza getting her women’s fashion business off the ground, or Mzee Mcharo investing in bee hives to produce and sell honey, we believe strongly in the power of financial literacy and goal setting as a catalyst for personal development.

Thanks for checking in!

Until next time,

Brandon and Jeremy, KwakStars

Click here to check out an abbreviated list of Maranz’s observations from his book African Friend and Money Matters.

The Rains, They Come and They Go

Hello from Kwakiliga!

We are very pleased to announce that after 3 weeks of consistently climbing egg production, our sick chickens have turned the corner and are now producing in the normal range again! Happy to have healthy chickens once again, we have made plans with partners to that will allow us to anticipate illness amongst the chickens so that we can limit drops in production in the future.

After a couple of weeks of rain, the rains in Kwakiliga quickly became predictably unpredictable. Luckily, our meeting with Mr. Kweka, the irrigation specialist in Korogwe could not have come at a more relevant time. He arrived in Kwak ready to talk with the partners about Kwak’s water history and survey for the presence of groundwater. Although his conclusions were not exactly what we were hoping to hear, he provided us with great information. He believes that there is groundwater in the field set back behind banda 2 and 3 that was diverted to a greater depth after the road was built. However, even if groundwater exists and we are able to extract it, he is skeptical that we will be able to pump the water the necessary distance to all of the bandas. His recommendation is to, instead of harvesting groundwater, petition the local water authority to offshoot a pipe so that each of the bandas will have a personal spigot from which to collect water. As a rough estimate, we calculated that implementing this solution would cost around 2.5 million shillings! With a price point this high, we are thinking very critically and carefully about the water problem in Kwak. As of now we are still researching the possibility of harvesting groundwater while we obtain more concrete details about the process of implementing the pipes. Hopefully we can find a cost effective and reliable water source!

Stay tuned for more details on the developing water saga and continue to follow us on Twitter and Instagram!