Rose Chisowa, aged 40, graduated from the University of Malawi with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 2008. Just like any graduate she was expecting to take up a white-collar job and become one of top-notch journalists.
But as fate had it that after failing to secure a job she took unfamiliar route to become self-reliant by venturing into farming while hoping to land on a job.
Chisowa’s journey from unemployed graduate is one of a kind and it is something that should give young graduates food for thought.
After finding it difficult to get a permanent work and with immense determination she has achieved a lot by taking a bold step to pursue her passion for farming business.
In 2013, Chisowa embarked on an initiative called Rose Farm Project in which she established a successful piggery farming.
In 2018, she again ventured into horticulture in which she divided her farm into different areas where she is growing leaf vegetables such as mustard, cabbage, rape and others.
Chisowa is also cultivating cash crops such as bananas and mushroom, rearing layers’ chickens for egg production, local chickens and rabbits .
She told projectM that agriculture is a viable business that aspiring women entrepreneurs should consider venturing into, saying the future of Malawi depends on agriculture production.
She said women entrepreneurs need to support the growth of small and medium enterprises in agribusiness which can create job opportunities for the youth to help move Malawi’s agriculture sector forward.
“I am encouraging my fellow women whether they are fresh graduates or not but if they are struggling to make headways in life then they should venture into commercial farming. The market is so big and when you decide to start it, make sure you really stand by your goals of what you really want to achieve,” she said.
The successful entrepreneur says Nsundwe is one of the places known for people with immoral behaviours but with what she is currently doing many young men and women, including retired people are being motivated to venture into agribusiness.
“Soon after these people I have motivate start cultivating on a large scale, we will form a strong cooperative because we would like to produce tomato sauce, paste, herbs among others to preserve agriculture processing and value addition to boost productivity,” she said.
Despite being successful in agribusiness, a significant number of young entrepreneurs face hurdles to access loans from financial institutions to grow their business.
High cost of agriculture inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides also discourages many people to take up farming as a business.
Through her business, Chisowa has employed eight full-time and 10-part time workers.
Today, her products are found on the shelves of some of the chain stores and she is also doing door to door deliveries.
Some of the assets that she has acquired through her farming business, among others, include 15 acres of land, a car and house.
