The biggest challenge the bizi face is keeping up with demand. Truly.
Those challenges then trickle down to the other common challenges of scaling up: hiring, operational capital, expanding systems, etc., but the root cause of capital needs at Africa Eats is the “high class problem” of too many orders.
For example, here in 2023 Rwanda is one of the 10 fastest growing economies on the planet. With growing incomes comes a growing demand for meat. To American and European ears, that might sound problematic, with worries about climate and land, but the bigger issue in Africa is protein deficiency, which causes health problems and shorter lifespans for African children. Meat is the simplest solution to that issue and chicken in particular is one of the most efficient forms of meat.
To fill that growing demand, Paniel Meat Processing‘s Livestock Bank works with thousands of smallholder farmers to grow chickens, and pigs, and goats, and cattle. 6 tons of chicken per month. Trouble is, that isn’t keeping up with demand. PMP has orders for 24 tons per month, and to meet that demand, they’ve starting building a chicken farm and processing facility.
Meeting demand isn’t unique to PMP/Livestock Bank. Over in Ghana, Tilaa is struggling to train enough farmers to keep enough bees to aggregate enough honey. Similarly in Tanzania, Swahili Honey has orders for container-loads of beeswax, and is scaling up a few thousand more beekeepers to fill those orders.
And on the logistics side of the food/ag supply chain, TRUK Rwanda has grown from 6 trucks at the start of 2022 to 24 trucks by mid-2023, with more to come by the end of year, as demand for trucking and cold storage continues to outstrip the available supply.
