PROJECTS
Due to the confidentiality issues connected with disclosing ongoing projects, much of our work we are unable to disclose until it is fully complete. Here are a few things we have been working on in a level of detail we are able to disclose:
1) Access to Finance - Avocado Seedlings
Provided advice support and assistance to an avocado seedling business producing organic certified Hass Gold avocados to enable them to upscale their operations to be able to better respond to and supply their demand.
2) Feasibility Study - Sweet Potato Value Chain
Feasibility study into setting up a sweet potato value chain from small-scale farmer to agro-processor in Homa Bay, Kenya and/ or Soroti, Uganda for offtake in the UK. Despite Kenya and Uganda being among the world’s largest producers of sweet potato, the study found that low yields experienced by farmers inflated prices to higher than other global producers. It was found the project could only be feasible by working with small-scale farmers to improve yields over time, which would not be commercially workable under any offtake agreement or for the project developer to enter into commercial scale primary production which they were not keen to do. Therefore it was deemed that the project was not feasible unless a commercial potato farmer with the ability of achieving much higher yields could be found to establish themselves as a partner to this value chain. We are now in the process of looking at different ways of establishing this on a commercial scale.
3) Supply Chain Development - Sustainable Timber
Helped a US buyer open up a supply chain for rare, ethically sourced, sustainable timber from Gabon that goes well beyond typical global sustainability requirements. The buyer had failed to find a suitable supplier in five years of searching. The undertaking involved using our vast network of contacts across multiple countries on the continent to find the most suitable supplier, arrange site visits and negotiate terms between buyer and supplier and organising materials for the buyer to use in their public relations campaign to promote their new product line. The consignments were part-funded by Kenyan financiers providing inventory finance sourced by East African Solutions. East African Solutions also obtained all necessary licensing and import documentation in the US and negotiated with shipping lines and customs clearing agents.
4) Strategic Business Support - Tech Start-up
Providing strategic tech support for a Ugandan based tech start-up with pan-African ambitions that allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand their reach more rapidly with less investment in expensive infrastructure. Work involves assisting with strategic changes to the business model, advice on user experience, improvements to the pitch deck, linking the business with key strategic partners and potential investors and assisting with business development to opening up new markets for them throughout the continent including providing advice and linkages to key strategic partners for the company to expand to Kenya.
5) Analysis, Report and Recommendations - Retail (Homewares)
Identified 15 different potential retail locations for a Tanzanian company selling homewares, arts, crafts and antiques from all over East Africa looking to expand to Nairobi. Analysed aspects like footfall, demographics, basket size, complementary/ competititor retailers, cost per square metre, availability, future availability, visbility, parking, marketing and all of this vs. the square metrage of each location to come up with recommendations and timeframes.
No current or historical projects in Malawi.
6) Tax and Business Registration Research - KIFC
Research in to the new Kigali International Finance Centre (KIFC), its different incentives as an onshore financial centre; requirements as well as registration costs, timeframes and required ongoing costs for interested businesses.
7) Organisational Improvement and Donor Relations Project - Non-Government Organisation
Pro bono work on behalf of an NGO locally producing prosthetic limbs predominantly for casualties of the Rwandan genocide who had lost limbs in that conflict. The organisation also supports similar casualties of conflicts and landmines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. Work included consulting around organisational improvement, helping with linkages to receive relevantly skilled volunteers and attract a greater level of donor funding.
8) Opinion Pieces on National and Regional Economic Development - Digital and Print Media
Work with Rwanda’s leading daily print and digital media platform and Rwanda’s largest media company, providing opinion pieces around accelerating more rapid and equitable economic and social development in Rwanda and the East African region at large.
5) Analysis, Report and Recommendations - Retail (Homewares)
Identified 15 different potential retail locations for a Tanzanian company selling homewares, arts, crafts and antiques from all over East Africa looking to expand to Nairobi. Analysed aspects like footfall, demographics, basket size, complementary/ competititor retailers, cost per square metre, availability, future availability, visbility, parking, marketing and all of this vs. the square metrage of each location to come up with recommendations and timeframes.
9) Development of Business Plan, Financial Projections and Sourcing Finance - Arts and Crafts Export
Development of a business plan, financial projections and the sourcing of finance for a start-up business set up to export arts and crafts from East Africa to the US. Items to be exported include handmade natural items such as baskets, rugs, light fixtures, decorative objects, pottery, cutting boards, cutlery and bowls, fabrics, doors, sculptures, sandals and embroidery with sophisticated design and the potential for enhancing wealth creation opportunities in vulnerable sections of society across the East African Community. Work also involved identifying potential sources of homewares from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda with the business’s initial focus to be on items sourced predominatly in Tanzania in the proximity of the warehouse and showroom that they have now established.
10) Brand and Business Plan Development - Boutique Hotel
Developed a brand and worked with architects looking at the land profile and market research of the local hospitality sector to develop a design concept for a boutique hotel on one of Tanzania’s largest coffee estates. This included collaborating to put together build and operating costs, procurement and build schedules, developing a seasonal room rate plan and producing a business plan with revenue forecasts, occupancy and cash-flow projections and insights into return on investment for the developers to submit to their financiers. The plans were successfully approved by the project’s financiers and funds were invested.
11) Land Usage Consulting - Community Project
Pro bono work for a rural Tanzanian Maasai community. Providing advice on revenue and employment generating activities they can undertake on their land to deliver commercial returns to divert back into community projects. Also strategies around developing PR on these activities to attract external donor funding to support revenue generating activities as well as the community projects they are supposed to fund. Work has led to the community developing a number of profitable revenue streams as well as accessing skilled overseas volunteers to assist with their community development projects.
12) Organisational Set-up and Strategy - Non-Government Organisation
Pro bono work in assisting Tanzanian youth politicians and ambassadors to set up an NGO to engage in setting up reforestation programmes through government schools across the whole of the East African Community (EAC) - i.e. Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Main assistance was in the form of strategy, advice and coaching on document writing and communications strategy to assist with accessing donor funds, partnerships and linkages and and well as assistance with helping them to identify the suppliers of the materials they needed. The organisation will plant 16 million trees during the course of 2024.
13) Proprietary Project Development - Real Estate
Research and development of a number of partially proprietary projects to support the Tanzanian government’s shift to the capital of Dodoma, including residential, hospitality, education and healthcare projects. Involves identifying suitable land, building concepts, finding suitable operators and financial partners, developing business plans and liaising with architects and the Prime Minister’s office who are overseeing the government’s shift to the capital.
14) Market Entry Study - Technical Services
Tanzania market entry study for a multinational, Belgian headquartered technical services company with annual revenues of USD $800m. Work included analysis on market opportunities; information on competitors including current pricing and terms; identifying a suitable location for start-up; identifying suitable human resource and strategies to attract and develop a qualified human resources pool; business development and PR strategies to capture market upon entry; and timeframes, procedures and costs around compliance issues such as permits and licenses. The company successfully entered Tanzania based on the information given and provided feedback that the information was so conclusive that it was the fastest they have ever made a decision to enter a new market.
15) Supply Chain Development - Cashew Nuts
Opened up a supply chain of cashew nuts from Tanzania to Uganda including negotiating contracts and determining a transportation solution as part of our work to better understand, open up and integrate regional markets.
2) Feasibility Study - Sweet Potato Value Chain
Feasibility study into setting up a sweet potato value chain from small-scale farmer to agro-processor in Homa Bay, Kenya and/ or Soroti, Uganda for offtake in the UK. Despite Kenya and Uganda both being among the world’s largest producers of sweet potato, the study found that low yields experienced by farmers artificially inflated prices to higher than other global producers. It was found the project could only be feasible by working with small-scale farmers to improve yields over time, which would not be commercially workable under any off-take agreement or for the project developer to enter into commercial scale primary production which they were not keen to do. Therefore it was deemed that the project was not feasible unless a commercial potato farmer with the ability of achieving much higher yields could be found to establish themselves as a partner to this value chain. We are now in the process of looking at different ways of establishing this on a commercial scale.
4) Strategic Business Support - Tech Start-up
Providing strategic tech support for a Ugandan based tech start-up with pan-African ambitions that allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand their reach more rapidly with less investment in expensive infrastructure. Work involves assisting with strategic changes to the business model, advice on user experience, improvements to the pitch deck, linking the business with key strategic partners and potential investors and assisting with business development to opening up new markets for them throughout the continent.
15) Supply Chain Development - Cashew Nuts
Opened up a supply chain of cashew nuts from Tanzania to Uganda, including negotiating contracts and determining a transportation solution as part of our work to better understand, open up and integrate regional markets.
16) Feasibility Study, Business Plan Development and Government Relations - Integrated Grain Business and Storage
Feasibility study on a grain storage business in Uganda to take advantage of the country’s maize production capacity as well as strategic location in between countries that typically import maize and/ or face significant food security challenges. Conducted a feasibility looking at local and regional maize production and consumption patterns, looking at case studies of similar historical failed businesses in Uganda and other countries with similar dynamics, identifying critical success factors, equipment needed, financial viability and timelines as well as suggesting recommended changes to the business model and project location and making linkages with propsective local partners and key government stakeholders to immprove the projects’s chances of success.
17) Business Plan Development - Highway Retail Complex Developments
Working with architects and the President’s Office in Uganda to gather information to develop a business plan for highway retail complex developments long the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway containing ATMs, a forex exchange office, a large coffee shop/bakery, and a gift shop focusing on Ugandan export items to service local commuters and business travellers and particularly tourists and international travellers travelling between Entebbe Airport and Kampala to provide easy access to banking and currency exchange, quality food and beverage options for travellers and the opportunity to purchase authentic , high quality Ugandan products.
18) Business Environment Survey
Pro bono Zambian business survey pre-2021 elections on challenges within the prevailing business environment in terms of economic conditions and government policy, with a focus on, but not exclusive to the mining, energy, manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
19) Media Monitoring and Political Risk Assessment - Sovereign Debt
Local, international and social media monitoring and information gathering pre-2021 elections on issues relating to Zambia’s sovereign debt, economic situation, political risk and Zambia’s discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide to a wide range of local and international stakeholders.
NON-CORE FOCUS COUNTRIES:
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR):
20) Feasibility Study - Timber Industry
Feasibility study into the viability of acquiring a timber concession and setting up a timber processing plant to take advantage of the vast untapped rare hardwood timber resources in CAR, looking at the best locations for a concession, issues around sustainability, possible shipping and logistics routes, a security analysis into the security situation in the country and how this is affected by UN, Rwandan and Russian actors, a look at areas of instability in the country and how these may affect safe shipping routes or human resource as well as a study in to US, UK and EU sanctions and ways of navigating challenges presented by these. It was deemed at the time of the study that the business was not feasible.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC):
21) Market Study - Cocoa Export
Study into the cocoa sector in North Kivu, identifying reliable suppliers with measures around the monitoring and prevention of child labour, secure storage facilities and issues around aflatoxins, issues around testing and inspection, fumigation, export certification and duties, finding the best value logistics to Mombasa via Kampala, discussing setting up measures for smallscale farmers to be paid in a more secure fashion with Congolese banks as well as navigating ongoing and ever changing security concerns.
22) Supply Chain Development - Arts and Crafts Export
Identified sources for fabrics, statues and decorative masks to be used for wall hangings made from Congolese hardwood and beads using indigenous, traditional designs for various international export markets from a variety of locations ranging from as far south as Pweto, as far east as areas bordering Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu, as far west as Mbuji-Mayi, and as far north as Kisangani with most items coming from Manono.
23) Market Study - Sulphuric Acid Import
Study into the sulphuric acid market in the mining sector in DRC’s Haut-Katanga Province on behalf of a commodities broker. Research in to demand and supply trends, insight in to current and future copper production volumes, key players, main buyers, main challenges, obstacles, threats and pricing trends as well as logistics details.
GABON:
3) Supply Chain Development - Sustainable Timber Export
Helped a US buyer open up a supply chain for rare, ethically sourced, sustainable timber from Gabon that goes well beyond typical global sustainability requirements. The buyer had failed to find a suitable supplier in five years of searching. The undertaking involved using our vast network of contacts across multiple countries on the continent to find the most suitable supplier, arrange site visits and negotiate terms between buyer and supplier and organising materials for the buyer to use in their public relations campaign to promote their new product line. The consignments were part funded by Kenyan financiers providing inventory finance sourced by East African Solutions. East African Solutions also obtained all necessary licensing and import documentation in the US and negotiated with shipping lines and customs clearing agents.
TUNISIA: (not on map)
24) Supply Chain Development - Insect Based Protein for Animal and Fish Feed Export
Scoured multiple locations within the African continent to help mitigate against supply chain issues being experienced emanating from South East Asia, identifying a supplier for a cutting edge niche insect based protein processor whose protein can be used for animal and fish feed for a UK based animal feed wholesaler. Work involved identifying the most suitable source of supply within Africa, negotiating contracts including payment terms and shipping terms.