You may have visited some different places this past Easter break and been surprised by some very bold businesses in some not so big towns.
I respect the business people, who turn various rural areas around using big ventures that many of us see little or no opportunity.
I am talking about the people, who turn around sleepy villages and create amazing opportunities both for themselves and those in the locality. Here are a few examples.
There is this poultry farm, Brade Gate, that was started a few years back in Nyeri County along the Karatina-Nanyuki road.
I don’t know much about it but I have seen how setting up the business has changed the area, opening up many trade opportunities.
The investors started out with a hatchery selling broiler day-old chicks, and now the firm has established other income streams such as hotels, feeds store and similar others. When the farm started, I quickly noticed what looked like large godowns.
Anyone who has driven outside this farm will tell you that the area has changed. It is such bold moves from the business people that I am celebrating today.
While people in this area were more accustomed to subsistence chicken rearing, many have now ventured in to commercial poultry keeping and are making more income than they did before.
I recently visited Kangema town and was amazed by yet another great entrepreneur who has turned a milk bar into a processing plant. Aspendos dairy is about 20 kilometres from Murang’a town.
The processor is collecting milk from hundreds of farmers in Kangema and helping them with extension services to improve their yield. The small plant has its milk brand, Mountain Fresh, which you will find in many estates in Nairobi.
It is amazing how Aspendos dairy has managed through the bold move of its founder to help Kangema dairy farmers bring a processed product to Nairobi.
Very few business people can risk the kind of investment that this company has put in a location such as this. However, my lesson from this entrepreneur is that having a vision and moving step by step can get you there.
I think it is very fulfilling to see enterprises like these that give hope to graduates of rural towns to go back home and find real opportunities. These businesses turnover hundreds of millions.
There are a lot of opportunities in agribusiness in Kenya today. Agriprocessing is a big opportunity in the rural areas. By adding value, we transform the kind of income that flows back.
While I know many people opt to be distributors or retailers of already processed goods, give it a thought. But success is not just in agribusiness.
You may have heard about Tafaria Castle. A former chief executive left a job to go back to his rural home and build something that would create unique experience for visitors.
Tafaria Castle is a built on a hill overlooking the Aberdare Range, Laikipia Plains and Mount Kenya, halfway between Nyeri and Nyahururu. Because of taking the investment to a remote location, the land prices have gone up and people are flocking the area to try and get some piece of land.
Jobs have been created but most interesting, is the scale of business that the owner has managed to grow.
When people go upcountry and sleep in shared rooms, many urban dwellers do not enjoy this. Hospitality investments like this provide accommodation to families visiting different parts of the country.
Believe me, Kenyans are spending significant monies seeing their country. Domestic tourism is on the rise and I do not see it going back.
I think these business people that are transforming rural communities by being bold and creating these ventures in remote areas should be well celebrated.
I feel that venturing in the small towns and rural areas is worth a try. It must be very fulfilling too, I believe.
