A group of young entrepreneurs from Monkey Bay in Mangochi District Fish Land Ladies have acquired a K50 million refrigerated van on loan from Malawi government to improve fish production and distribution for their business.
They have acquired the van with support from the African Development Bank (ADB) on cost recovery basis which is responsible for buying and selling fish in the country.
The group’s team leader Atusaye Msiska told projectM that they will pay 50 percent of the loan after 5 years.
She said before acquiring the van, the group was struggling to supply their products to markets such as in Chikwawa, Blantyre and Lilongwe.
Msiska said apart from the three districts, the cooperative is also targeting market across the country to boost local fish production and ensure that Malawians have access to their products.
She said: “We thank government for providing the refrigerated van which will assist us to supply quality fish to every corner of the country and help prevent post-harvest losses. Apart from Shoprite and Chipiku shops, we also intend to go flat out across the country selling our products to various shops and individuals.”
To her fellow young women, who are interested in entrepreneurship, she has encouraged them to be innovative to become self-reliant.
“We have a lot of youths in this country, who are unemployed. We are encouraging them to either join the cooperatives or individually start small scale businesses and be independent like us. Fish trading has proved to be profitable which has really helped us to achieve amazing results and great success,’’ said Msiska.
Other members of the group, Jacqueline Nyirenda, Margaret Biliat and Martha Chiweza told ProjectM that fish is profitable and has made their cooperative to focus on its aims, objectives and goals.
Through this business, the three women said most of the members have opened their own businesses such as hair saloons, shops, restaurants which has made it easier for them to take care of their families.
The group, which has employed about 15 fishermen, is planning to recruit a driver to transport their products across the country.
On the other hand, the three said despite challenges the group is facing, they are optimistic of increasing the number of boats to be used in the waters of Lake Malawi from one to three to meet high demand on the market.
Speaking in an interview with ProjectM, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Michael Usi said the refrigerated van is important as it will help to keep quality and quantity of their products.
“As government, we are looking at global market because Malawi is one of the countries in Africa known for quality fish production but has not been able to export more fish to other countries.
“So far, we have given out 6 refrigerated vans to various cooperatives in the fishing sector across the country, including Fish Land ladies to assist them in exporting fish in bulks to neighbouring countries and ease the country’s forex challenge,” Usi said.
Fish Land Ladies cooperative, which has 21 members, was established in 2018.
