Lipuo Nkholi is a farmer and a woman entrepreneur who runs multiple businesses in the agricultural industry. She is the force behind Limomonane Products. Learn more about her entrepreneurial story below.
Start Up Story
Tell us about yourself.
I am a farmer. I run two agricultural companies and an NGO. Before I became an entrepreneur, I was working with international organisations on development issues. My experience is around governance, peacebuilding, foresight, democracy and project management.
What does your company do?
I run two agricultural companies and an NGO. One company is a contract farming entity that specializes in field crops (Wheat and Sugar Beans) and another one produces and processes fruits, makes jams, marmalade, and canned peaches. The NGO focuses on capacity building on conservation agriculture, ecosystem restoration projects and activating people to become environmental stewards.
Who are you targeting with your customers?
Both our businesses are B2B. In the contract farming we supply Lesotho Flour Mills with Wheat and Tasty with Sugar Beans. On the Limomonane side, our target market is the hospitality industry (Hotels, Guest Houses and Lodges), Events companies and retail. Limomonane Trust is particularly interested in small holder farmers, schools, orphanages and individuals.
What inspired you to start the business?
It was mostly frustration from learning that Agriculture is responsible for over 70% of people’s livelihoods in Lesotho, yet we still are very subsistent as a country. I was curious why there was a challenge to move from subsistence to commercial farming, yet all I see is land lying idle. I love challenge and being on the forefront to coming up with solutions, I found this an interesting place to go learn and also bring solutions.
Can you tell us more about your entrepreneurial journey?
It has been challenging of course, but every experience was education to me. When I started, I thought I was just going to make jam and sell, simple and straight forward. The reality was that, actually there is an entire value chain I needed to learn and maneuver, I had to establish relationship with suppliers. From the start I was very intentional that I wanted to work with local suppliers and empower them, but there were challenges of consistency in quality and quantities on the local supply. I found myself having to train farmers, and ending up with the decision to actually start my own orchard and having to make another decision to venture into field crops to help with ‘quick cash’ as orchards are a long term investment that need maintenance for years before they could yield some fruits. So, flexibility and adaptation have been things I had to learn and embrace in this journey.
What challenges have you faced in your entrepreneurial journey?
I didn’t have any educational background and skills in entrepreneurship, I have been learning as I go. There have been mistakes that would have been avoided if i had the skills and knowledge to run a business. Starting a company with no budget is also quite challenging as one assumes all the roles until the company can afford a team, it can be hard to be an accountant, a strategist, a nutritionist, a researcher and a sales person all at once. But all these things fall into place with time, and focusing on the bigger picture also kept me going.
What are your future goals for your business?
With the NGO, the future plan is to inspire people to become environmental stewards in all they do. We want to help farmers achieve high yields in their work without affecting the integrity of our soil. And finally, we want Basotho to work together to prevent, halt, and reverse degradation of our ecosystems. In our contract farming company, we hope that our company can serve as a proof of concept for Basotho to go into contract farming and move towards commercial farming. We also hope to expand and diversify our production. With Limomonane Products, we are hoping to get certification and expand our market and gain entry into the multi-national stores and have a footprint regionally.
What is most fulfilling to you about being an entrepreneur?
Knowing that I am part of the solution makes my heart jump, whether it be job creation for a few people we are able to employ, whether it’s seeing a package of Tasty beans and knowing it could be our beans going to put a smile on someone’s face and ensuring their nutrition is enough for me. What also fulfills me is the support in various forms we get from different partners, it is an affirmation we are doing something good. I also really appreciate that we have the younger generation looking at us and knowing they are learning something and it is up to them to expand from here.
Any advice for aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Go out there, start something and do not let fear cripple you. After starting, read, research, reach out to those that came before you and you will avoid a lot of mistakes. The world is full of people willing to help as long as what you are trying to do is good.
Contact details:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Limomonaneles
Email: lipuo@limomonanetrust.org
Tel: +266 2232 6754 Phone/WhatsApp: +266 5789 3466
Comments