How a casual talk turned into multi-million business venture

Eunice Mwongera, quit her job to start an export business.

by: The People in FarmingJune 12, 2014

By Shirley Genga

Eunice Mwongera, 54, found herself restless and unhappy in formal employment and decided to leave it all behind and try her hand at entrepreneurship. That uncertain journey 15 years ago gave birth to a company Hillside Greens, one of the leading agribusiness exporters in Kenya. “My first job after graduating was at the Ministry of Agriculture as an administrator. I often felt like formal employment was too restrictive and suffocating. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with formal employment, but it is not for everyone,” she says. Six years later at age of 33, she finally quit to try her hand in business.

“In 1995 I resigned and started my journey as an entrepreneur. My husband did not understand why I would had left a secure job to venture into the unknown. I am glad he did not talk me out of it,” she says. Mwongera started by selling stationery and then later become ICT related hardware. The business meant travelling a lot. It is during one of her travels that a chat with a stranger, who turned to be a horticultural products exporter, bred a business idea. While on a business trip to Dubai in 1998, she struck a conversation with an exporter of fruits and vegetables. “I immediately got interested in the idea of exporting fruits and when we landed I decided to do research on the opportunities that were available.

I visited a wholesale market to do my research,” she says. She was dismissed five times as the dealers there thought she was out of her mind. “The first shop I visited, the traders laughed at me and dismissed me because of my gender. The second and the third shop also dismissed me. In total, all five or so Kenyan vegetable importers I visited dismissed me arguing that the business was male-dominated and besides, I was too young to be an exporter. Determined to make it happen, I went to yet another shop, the Fresh Fruits Company, where someone finally listened to me.

Coincidentally, he was looking for suppliers of mangoes from Kenya and miraculously I got my first order. Hillside Green Growers was born in 1998,” she says. It is 16 years since and Hillside is not only exporting to Dubai, but to the Middle East, Europe and the UK. “Hillside Green Growers is a leading exporter of fruits and vegetables to Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar. We also send containerised avocado to Holland and France. We have secured a market for Asian products to Norway, Germany, and Sweden.UK consumes the largest share of Hillside’s exotic vegetable all year round.

We also have local market and are currently targeting the Comesa regional market,” she says. She says in a good year, the company makes Sh85 million. However, this is not without its share of challenges. “The global consumer expectation is costly and constantly changing. Also challenges of unpredictable weather are draining as farmers depend on rain agriculture. Unlike the West where farming is highly subsidised by governments, our farmers barely get any incentives. Thus, the exporters and farmers are left to bear the full costs of production making, which is expensive,” says Eunice.

Further, that they also face some challenges with the framers they work with. “Sometimes farmers use second grade seeds, and when we supply seeds some sell them when they are faced with school fees problems. Also, when we agree on specific volumes some are unable to deliver. Others use chemicals that are not approved,” she says. However, she says that they are now have been forced to adopt to corporate governance where farmer groups have systems of accountability. “We are working with six farmer groups and have opted to engage in contract farming. We agree the prices, volumes and consistency in picking.

We now treat the farmers groups we work with as an economic entities with rules and regulations so we have a fall back plan,”she says. Also to help build and grow the farmers that Hillside Green Growers works with, Eunice says they are now working with agribusiness NGOs. “We have partnered with agribusiness NGOs because the cost is too heavy for exporters to bear alone. We are currently working with the Solidarity Netherlands. With the funding we get, we train the farmers on which fertilisers use, provide them with quality seeds, and help them construct infrastructure like grading sheds and charcoal coolers.

We have done this before, it has always been our goal to support farmers whenever we can,” she continues. She says although the recent stringent guidelines by the European Union on the maximum residue level (MRL) of the chemical, Dimethoate, is a challenge. She says local farmers use it and it is said to be harmful to livestock, but is directly associated with causing cancer. The EU regulation authorities had last year directed that Dimethoate, the banned chemical, should not exceed 0.02 parts per million.

As a result, more than a fifth of Kenya’s vegetable exports to the European market were rejected in January after they were found to contain traces of the banned chemical. “Now if we import beans they have to be tested for banned chemicals and substances, and if they are found with an excess of the banned chemical, then they are rejected and an exporter can easily get blacklisted by the Horticultural Crop Development Authority and blocked out of export market,” she says.

Since the European ban 138 Kenyan exporters have been locked out as they cannot meet the new standards. The Kenyan government was originally asked to set up a lab to test for the banned substances before they are exported but that did not happen. Mwongera says business is tough at the moment. To reduce running costs, the company is looking to do its own production. They are also looking to contract farmers and rent land in Sagana, Kirinyanga, Ukambani, Narok and Kisumu.