03 Jul 2018

The passionate and hardworking, Ms Shingani Kufigwa had one dream in her life, to be among the top entrepreneurs in Masunga.

Born and bred in Masunga, Ms Kufigwa is surely realising her dream through guinea fowl farming.

The young and vibrant farmer said even though she knew in her heart that entrepreneurship was her zest, she did not think farming would be her business avenue.

Ms Kufigwa of Jessica Guinea Fowl stated in an interview, that she was funded to the tune of P100 000 through the Youth Development Fund (YDF).

She managed to purchase 91 guinea fowls at P165 each and an incubator.

Her three-year-old business is doing very well, particularly that guinea fowl farming is one of best businesses with high market value. Again, guinea fowls are also not vulnerable to many diseases unlike chicken.

The young farmer said her journey begun in 2014, when she registered for a business name and applied for YDF upon which she was invited for a business workshop in Francistown where different departments trained and sold them business ideas.

Returning home, she had an affirmation in her heart that guinea fowl farming was her interest and without wasting any minute, she returned to Masunga office to submit everything that was required.

“The very same day I submitted my forms, YDF forms were submitted at the Ministry of Youth, Empowerment, Sports and Culture (MYESC) in Gaborone and that is when I knew that indeed I serve a God of wonders, as I was funded before the end of the year.

She further said that since guinea fowls breed seasonally between September to April, and buying hers in January was a blessing since they produced 100 fowls even though they all ended up dying after two months.

The business woman said this was disheartening, but she knew that her blessings were yet to multiply in the next breeding season.

After realising that feeding more than hundreds guinea fowls was costly, she decided to sell some and connected a standpipe and built another construction for chickens.

With her sharp business acumen, come 2016 the number increased by 60 and she decided to help her fellow farmers with incubation.

She sold an egg for P5, adding that those with financial constraints gave her 30 per cent of the overall incubated products, of which she then decided to venture into chicken rearing too.

A although a lot of youth in businesses decry market, Ms Kufigwa stated that with guinea fowls, she had a lot of support from lodges, hotels and even from the department of wildlife as they bought them from her to sell to LIMID applicants.

For now, she has 30 guinea fowls and expects 60 eggs from each fowl every breeding season.

“Every business goes through a bad phase or challenges, but it does not mean one has to throw in the towel,” she noted.

She advised entrepreneurs to be resilient and passionate in whatever projects or businesses they were pursuing.

She encouraged the youth to be independent and take advantage of the government schemes, advising them not to venture into businesses they are not passionate about because they would easily lose interest when facing challenges. ENDS