Summary
· Initially, he was hired as an ATM machine operator by a certain company based in Dar es Salaam but served for only six months.
Dar es Salaam. John Kundwanabake (37) is a believer of his passion and
will do everything to that effect.
It was no wonder that he ditched a
fairly well-paying computer engineering job to embark on agri-business.
He is a degree holder in information
system and network engineering from St Joseph University in Tanzania.
After his graduation in 2011, he
worked in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector for only
two years.
Initially, he was hired as an ATM
machine operator by a certain company based in Dar es Salaam but served for
only six months.
Thereafter, he turned to ICT
entrepreneurship, where he worked as a computer technician, providing various
ICT services.
It was at this stage that he
realised there were ample opportunities in entrepreneurship, specifically value
addition to crops.
At that time he did not know which
crops would meet his desire in agri-business.
“While I was involved in ICT
business, there was a certain cashew processing company that I worked for in
Mtwara,” he told The Citizen in an interview.
He added: “I became so curious about
the crop. I realized it was the one to take me into my desired entrepreneurship
in value addition to crops”.
It was precisely in 2013 he started
selling cashews for the first time while he was continuing his stints in ICT
entrepreneurship.
He noted that he was selling cashews
as a way to increase income after finding that opportunity and continued to
study the business related to the cashew nut crop.
More prospects in cashewnut business
beckoned in 2014 to 2016 and Mr Kundwanabake did not waste time. In 2016
initiated a group called Mivanga Cashewnuts to spearhead his exploits in the
cash crop.
His passion for agribusiness saw him
prioritizing cashewnut business rather than ICT.
Information technology, however,
remains his additional job that would support his agribusiness role.
Cashew opportunities
He is aware of how cashew nuts used
to be among the leading export crops from Tanzania, especially before the
1980s.
Things started to change from that
time but he says there is still an opportunity for the crop to regain its old,
golden days.
This, Mr Kundwanabake says, is due
to the fact that cashew nuts from Tanzania are “among the best in the world”.
He cited India as a leading market
for the cashew nuts as they are among the bites consumed during marriages.
“And marriages that take place in
India a year are more than 10 million”, he said during an interview.
Roughly, one kilogramme of cashews
is needed to spice a single wedding, meaning a total of 10 million tonnes are
needed yearly.
He says processing offers a big
opportunity in the cashew industry in Tanzania.
Currently, according to him,
Tanzania’s processed cashews are below 10 percent of all the cashews harvested
and processed.
That is despite the fact that there
were enough machines in the industry from those costing billions of shillings
to those valued at only Sh300,000.
“We cannot meet the demand for the
processed cashews market in the world. For example, in this country the maximum
capacity of all of our factories is to process 50,000 tons and we have never
reached that level”, he said.
He added that last year we processed
cashews below five percent of the 300,000 tonnes of cashews.
Mr Nkundwanabake is the current
secretary of the Tanzania Association of Cashew Processors (TACP).
He said his company normally
receives orders of 1,400 tons of cashews per year from different buyers.
He can meet the demand for those
orders by only 30 percent because of low capacity in processing the nuts.
“Cashew processing is an open opportunity
depending on how one organizes him or herself” he remarked.
He added;” You don’t have to start
with a high level of processing, you can start with a low level of processing
and increase later while observing quality”, he said. He cautioned, however,
that quality in all the processes should be maintained for better quality of
the product.
He says that in all businesses
related to cashews, the one with a high ‘risk’ is that of processing,
explaining that there are others such as that of adding the value to cashew
pods.
He mentioned juice and wine as some
of the products that can be made from cashew fruits.
Mr Nkundwanabake says that financial
institutions are trying very hard to provide loans to entrepreneurs who are in
the cashew business, especially in adding value to the crop.
He says that even now there are big
cashew processing factories that are being expanded and others are under
construction through local loans.
He says the Government is supposed
to elevate the sub-sector and attract more investment in the entire cashew crop
chain in order to increase its value, which will make the cashews sold at a
price that attracts local and foreign buyers.
“It is important to have many
investors in cashews and cashew pods so that the farmer should not rely on
cashews only, if he earns money from other cashew products, he will sell the
cashews at a friendly price to value adders for processing for foreign and
local market,” says Mr Nkundwanabake.
He says any move by the Government
to reduce the cost of cashew production from the farm to the factories will
help raise the production of the crop, export sales and benefit the farmers of
the crop which Tanzania intends to produce one million tons by 2030.
“The cashew crop has the ability to
address the challenge of employment for many young people, just a small factory
that can produce one container of shelled cashews requires at least 100
workers, because cashews are shelled one by one even if you use a machine,”
says Mr Nkundwanabake.
He says since the Government aims to
produce 700,000 tons by 2025 and harvest 60 percent of the cashews that will be
produced, it is necessary to provide tax and non-tax incentives to investors in
processing because the remaining time is only two years and now the capacity is
below 10 percent.
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