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By Calvin Manika
Thobekile Shoko, a young woman who was instrumental in the three-month-long women protests against Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) in 2018 over the unpaid salaries of their husbands, is still in the trenches to emancipate women. Of late, Thobekile and other women are thinking of turning their poultry project into a competent business venture which supplies chicken and other products to big supermarkets.
In a community where almost every household is rearing chicken for resale, companies like Irvine have remained afloat and suppliers of repute. In big cities, shops like Texas and Montana Meats have a larger stake among ordinary butcheries. With the mind of growing and making a name, Thobekile is ready to face the world but she insists that technical support is key to complementing a stable financial base.
The courage of these women comes at a time most of them in the communities are doing similar projects as side income generators, not a real business. But for Thobekile and her group – Hwange Women Domestic Science Project which operates in Makwika No 3 village, Hwange, they want to be a registered entity and a reliable supplier to a chain of businesses in the coal mining town in the South West of Zimbabwe.
“The project commenced on 18 of July 2020 with 200 broilers and 100 layers hyaline. From July 2020 to May 2020, we managed to raise 8 batches of 100 chicks per batch. And in May 2021, each member benefited from kitchen utensils. This a common approach by many groups which we now want to change and be a real business,” says Shoko.
At one time, due to managerial constraints, the management of the project decided to share 25 chicks with each group and also the layers and broilers for seed which is overall managed by the executive committee and the caretakers. This was also worsened when their layers stopped laying from May up to August 2021.
“In resuming the project to full capacity, we are facing challenges in marketing, hence limiting the expansion to the Makwika community. We have also embarked in Sasso production to increase egg production and plan to increase the number of hyaline brown layers. The broiler marketing was relatively firm from the onset with little to no stock holding,” adds Shoko.
This publication noted that the trends in sales of the chicken rearing project around Hwange town usually follow the payroll of companies, an approach which Thobekile says is unsustainable. Most of them have to strategize such that their products are ready for sale before the paydays of companies. But Shoko has plans from the lessons previously learnt.
“Working on the price strategies would make us grow and reduce operational costs. We have managed to work within the constraints of a rapidly changing environment and attempt to create and maximise the opportunities and minimise the impact of the threats. We need technical support from organisations who can give us expert advice on management and investments to attain our vision of being a registered viable business not the back of the house projects,” says Shoko.
Catherine Masunda, the founder of Youth 2 Youth in Zimbabwe said her organisation is working with different organizations throughout the country and globally. Through the IAA project, Masunda seeks to strengthen what they have already built in the communities and increase more organizations to work with for the growth of development, especially in the rural communities.
“We are going to train them using the modern strategies that will help sustainability and empowering women and youth, hence creating jobs. Our partnership with Africa Grain Seeds will go a long way to achieving our goals. Regarding our policy on support for women first, we ensure that policies, legislation, and regulations as they relate to women, address inequalities in the sharing of economic power through access to resources including funding for their businesses,” says Masunda.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Applied Alchemy (IAA) in collaboration with Africa Grain and Seed and Youth to Youth (Zimbabwe) will host thought leaders in Victoria Falls for two interactive dialogues to co-create an eco-system of leadership that works towards impact, inclusion, and equality in Africa. The interaction opens the door for people like Thobekile and the like-minded women to learn about leadership and management.
Investing in women’s entrepreneurship is good for business and essential for economic growth. Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a key driver of economic growth, and women-owned enterprises according to International Finance Corporation (IFC) account for approximately 30-37 percent (8–10 million) of all SMEs in emerging markets. Statistics around the country show that women are the fastest-growing market segment; they start businesses at a higher rate than men. In developing economies like Zimbabwe, SMEs are increasingly important, as they contribute to nearly half of the labor force.
IFC estimates that as many as 70 percent of women-owned SMEs in the formal sector in developing countries are unserved or under-served by financial institutions. This amounts to a financing gap and a missed business opportunity of approximately $260 – $320 billion per year.
Hwange women join many women in the country who are trying to break into the formal market. But, several barriers are hindering women’s prospects of becoming successful entrepreneurs, including limited or no access to business-management skills, women entrepreneurs have less experience in leading businesses and are more likely to operate their enterprises from their homes. Confidence is another factor, globally women have lower confidence levels in their abilities as entrepreneurs than their male counterparts and there is the issue of Networks. Women entrepreneurs operate in smaller, less-diverse networks than men and are less likely to seek the support of or use their social networks for business growth.