Looije Tomaten advised Satebu on the technical aspects of sustainably growing tomatoes

 

The business case
In November 2010 , 5 Nyenrode MBA stud

ents visited Satebu and came up with an operational roadmap for growth with concrete actions to ensure growth of the organisation. As a result of this (earlier) programme, a new business case has been defined by Satebu.

This business case focuses more on the technical aspects of sustainably growing tomatoes. The organisation continuously has to deal with extreme weather circumstances, therefore strategies for appropriate irrigation techniques are needed. To come up with these ideas they need to form alliances with other committed entrepreneurs. The case was matched with a team of 'Looije Tomaten' Michiel Bontenbal ,Sebastiaan Vermeulen and Vincent Looije

Analysis
Looije noticed that the farmers suffer from a lack of knowledge and funds. The area in Kenya were Satebu is located, is suitable for growing tomatoes.

The Looije team shared:
- their own knowledge on irrigation, seeds, crop protection, green houses and building a strong organisation
- their best practices about harvesting water, nurseries, green houses, seed trials
- their professional know-how to undertake sample planting to enable farmers select the best yielding seeds.

 

  

Advice

The farmers need to learn to invest in their own crop in all facets including protection, greenhouses and irrigation. Also it is important to share their best practices and experience as a group (alliances with other  farmers). Looije made recommendations on learning & improving growers groups.

If the farmers follow up their advice they can double their income within one year. This would be most positive, because when income increases they will be able to plan ahead and invest in the near future.

Impact on the partners
The Looije team: "We have learned to share knowledge in a basic way and we have seen that tomato growers speak the same language all over the world."

Satebu: "We became aware of the importance of sharing knowledge and ideas with other committed entrepreneurs."

Follow up  
This is the continuation of the partnership between SharePeople and Satebu. Looije Tomaten BV continues to support Satebu until the organisation will be self sustainable. When other assignments occur Looije Tomaten BV will send another team of experts to Kenya. The Farmers will informe SharePeople about the progress every 3 months.