Africa’s young agri-entrepreneurs nurturing the future
Channel: Science & Development Network
Date: 05/03/2020

“Farming is a business, and that means more than just managing the product. You also have to understand the value chain [activities performed in order to deliver a valuable product to consumers] and the market,” says Tawanda Runganga.

Runganga is a 27-year-old mushroom farmer in Zimbabwe who learned the value of the enterprise system the hard way.

In 2017, he launched RunIn, an oyster mushroom business based in the country’s capital Harare. Drawn to the vegetable’s appeal as a versatile, nutritious and easy to cultivate crop, he threw himself head-first into production.

The result was a booming yield in just six-weeks – with no one interested in buying.

“My focus was on producing as much as I could,” he says. “The mistake I made was never looking at my target market – who wants mushrooms?”

Rungagna started growing that market, tapping into his community to build customers. “I used Facebook, WhatsApp, flyers, even cooking them as tasters in the local markets,” he says.

Now RunIn is a full-time business employing three people, selling locally-grown mushrooms at markets, supermarkets, restaurants and in-home deliveries. 

RunIn also hosts business training and consultations, where local farmers are coached on how to manage their farms as agri-businesses. This includes lessons on planting and harvesting, as well as administrative skills-building in budgeting and bookkeeping. 

“Young people need to be trained on how to see farming as a business,” says Runganga. “That means covering issues of access to finance and markets, and the aspects of business that go beyond just managing a unit of livestock or the horticultural process.” 

Runganga has even created an educational module called A Guide to An Agripreneurship Future. It offers a snapshot of the modern agricultural sector and the opportunities that exist for young people.

The guide, which he currently teaches in five community high schools, is part of RunIn’s bigger mission to promote farming as a viable career path.

“When people say agriculture is the basis of survival for African youth, I take that seriously. If our future is the land, we must understand how to manage it and manage it well,” he says.