Africa-Press – Uganda. Nutrition does not have to be costly. It starts with how food is handled from the farm and factory. That is the heartbeat of Ruth Apis, the founder of Nutri-focus Food Hub, who deals in the processing of millet, maize, soya bean, and rice.
“I make compost flour out of those grains for human consumption, but recycle the residue for animals and chickens,” she says.
“I wanted to scale up nutrition in most of the Teso region but also across the country.” That is why her flours are natural organic, without any additives, and the grain makeup is not tampered with during milling. She explains that she handles the process herself from the garden, drying and then milling.
Citing maize, Ms Apis says that when milling it, she does not remove the outer layer. “That layer contains the largest portion of nutrients in the maize. While many millers remove it to make white flour, I do not to remove it ensure that my clients get a wholesome flour,” she says.
The journey started in August 2003 with product development, and then installing the machinery in September 2004. Today, her farm is on 30 acres where she plants different crops each season.
For instance, she has planted millet this month, but will do rice and maize next season. “In 2003, I was selling the grains without adding value, but I thought it was wise to include the value addition arm. That was to ensure that I deliver a wholesome product to my clients,” she shares.
Funding
Ms Apis started with an agricultural loan from Centenary Bank worth Shs25m, and with this, she bought seeds, hired a tractor to clear the land, as well as pay labourers for the first year.
“While repaying an agricultural loan can get tough owing to the seasonality of the business and uncertainties, I negotiated to make payments quarterly. I, therefore, paid it in three tranches,” she shares. However, for the machinery purchase, Ms Apis relied on savings from farming, where she only sold millet then.
Accumulating Shs35m from monthly farm savings, she buffered that with income from a cosmetics shop where she saved Shs1m on a monthly basis.
Ms Apis decries the rise in the cost of farm inputs as these have affected her profits. Previously, she harvested about 30 tonnes of grain from her farm. However, with increased labour costs, increased seed costs, she uses at least one tonne to cater for these.
Marketing
Increased product uptake is crucial for the survival of any business, and to remain afloat, Ms Apis is marketing using radio adverts. “I also work with my marketing person to share flyers about the business, market in the local markets, but to showcase at exhibitions. On a personal basis, I also share with my church congregation and any gatherings about the products,” she says.
Seasons
Climate change is a very personal thing to any farmer, and Ms Apis is feeling the pinch. Therefore, she is saving to get an irrigation kit that can enable her farm to have less worry about the unpredictable weather. Nonetheless, as she waits for the funds, Ms Apis still relies on the weather, keenly following the weather patterns – planting by March for the first season and then by July for the second season.
Training
Managing the farm and factory has been eased by training, and Ms Apis has got this from various players. The training on scaling up access to nutritional food was done by African Women Agribusiness Network (AWAN) in Uganda. She has also received training in value addition, while the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, in conjunction with Opportunity Bank, trained her on business management.
Best and worst times
Her best times are when she achieves her set target. However, she gets demoralised when processes get stuck. For example, failure to get the Q-mark has impeded her knowledge of market acceptance and getting into the foreign markets.
Operational costs
Her monthly sales are currently at 2 tonnes with sales of Shs5m. The costs include wages, rent, and therefore, the profits are about 45 percent of her sales.
Formalisation
Uganda still has a large informal sector, and for some entrepreneurs, the thorn in the side is the rigour of formalisation. While Ms Apis has managed to get done with Uganda Registration Services Bureau and Uganda Revenue Authority because the conditions are fewer and straightforward, she has suffered at the table of compliance with Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS).
She was audited in November 2024 and submitted six of her products for laboratory testing. Of these two passed and was asked to make corrections, which saw the remaining also pass the test. “I was only awaiting the Q-mark, but I have not heard from UNBS. This has interrupted my market penetration,” she says.
Challenges
Finance: Ms Apis has a dream to expand, such as getting more farmland, getting more machinery and also getting an irrigation system. However, she is stalled by inadequate finances. “I also need a destoner to ease stone removal from the cereals, but I am yet to get the money for that as it is quite costly,” she says.
Marketing: Advertising is crucial to expanding reach, but also increasing profits. However, Ms Apis is unable to do more than she is currently doing because she needs finances to use social media marketing.
Access to permanent premises: It will be a great relief if the factory gets bigger land to increase production. That requires bigger financial muscle as proof of concept that she is worth the offer, but she has yet to get there. Skilled labour: While she has a marketing manager, an administrator and a production manager, Ms Apis longs to have more skilled labour in her plant. “These can do more and efficiently, which improves profitability. Today, I have a team of 12 casual labourers,” she says.
Appreciation
Ms Apis is thankful to Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (FSME) for helping her scale several walls. For instance, she says that she did not know much about business management and accessing finances.
“They opened my mind to where we can get capital at affordable rates, but also bookkeeping, as this can attract investment.”
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