WhatsApp beefs up business idea
It is common for school alumni to form WhatsApp groups to keep in touch with each other.
For some, the chat groups are merely for banter; reminding each other of the good, the bad and the ugly memories of their school days.
Mlare Secondary School alumni’s Whatsapp group was launched in a similar fashion, but soon outgrew the banter, giving rise to a rewarding farm business.

Amidst the jokes in 2020, a business idea was hatched, discussed and put to practice.
As usual, there were some doubting Thomases.
Until the group bagged a multimillion-kwacha grant for beef production, their understanding of WhatsApp changed.
“These technologies offer a myriad opportunities for us,” says Ukwe Beef Producers Cooperative treasurer Benedicto Zimba.
This is the story of the new beef producers in Lilongwe West, which won a K177 million matching grant from the Agricultural Commercialisation Project funded by the World Bank.
Benedicto Zimba, treasurer of the cooperative, recalls: “It was five years ago, our WhatsApp group colleague, who runs a butchery, floated the idea that we could join him in this business. A few members bought the idea and formed an association where we contributed money to buy cattle for beef.
“We were lucky that after forming the association, we had an order from Linde Motel which demanded more than the beef we produced and that motivated us to get bigger.”
In no time, the association registered as cooperative with a clear business plan to own a livestock farm.
“It happened as planned,” says Zimba. “In
2022, through profits and contributions, the group had 47 heads of cattle in its fold.”
The growth curve motivated them to apply for the Agcom 2 grant to further grow the farm enterprise, whose membership is on the rise.
Zimba was among those who joined later.
“At first, I wasn’t really convinced that this was a winning idea. From what I saw later, I was motivated to join in,” Zimba states in an interview held at the group’s 20-hectare farm.
According to Ukwe Beef Production Cooperative secretary Collins Pofera, the group has 50 members, including 15 women.
They sell the beef to their off-taker, Shaka Trading.
Agcom requires enterprises applying for grants to have an off-taker.
To get the K177 million grant, the cooperative contributed 30 percent of the matching grant. Their contribution is quantified both in cash and in kind.
The beef producers paid 10 percent in cash—about K25 287 500—while the remaining 20 percent was in-kind contribution comprising cattle and land valued at about K50 million.
According to the business plan, the group seeks to use the funding to construct a coldroom, procure a chuff cutter, drill boreholes and acquire 110 Malawian Zebu cows and four Brangus Bulls.
They also intend to install water tanks and feeding troughs.
Government launched the $333 million Agcom 2 in November 2023 mainly to increase the resilience of food systems and the country’s preparedness for food insecurity in project areas.
The matching grant seeks to create productive alliances by financing 560 farm-related enterprises in six years.
Agcom national coordinator Ted Nakhumwa says Agcom 2 builds on the successes and lessons from the first phase.
“This hinges hugely on value addition targeting to finance those with intentions to buy from primary producers,” he says.
Agcom is alligned with the Malawi 2063 which has put agriculture commercialisation at the centre of the national vision to transform the country into a self-reliant middle income economy.