To lease a facility for sunflower oil pressing machine
Immaculate
Kisumu, Kenya
100% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Immaculate
Member since
September 2015
On-time repayments
125 installments • 62%
About Me
I grew up in a rural setting and partly, that has been part of my life all through. Rustic, and literally, down to earth. I helped my grandmother till her land over weekends during school terms and subconsciously, I was being prepared to make farming an integral part of my life yet I didn't know it then.
The climate in my area is generally wet and sunny, and that makes it ideal for farming. With vast lands that is easily accessible through leasing, I opted to make farming part of my life. I raise beans, and sunflower, and some occasional sweet potatoes when the season is right. Besides farming, and making edible oil, I have a clothes business.
When I am not farming, I like travelling and speaking to young students about believing in themselves and pursuing their dreams. Whenever I can, I like making an impact for poor people by buying them household provisions and encouraging them to pick themselves up and transform their lives.
My Business
SInce 2016, I started experimenting with producing sunflower seeds, and later pressing them for oil, which I used, and sold extra to my friends and family. Many people realize the health and nutritional value of sunflower oil and that has inadvertently spiked the demand of this highly valuable oil, and I have experienced the benefits firsthand.
Besides being a substance that helps people stay away from the doctor, it is highly loaded in essential oils that enhance healthy and good living. The inquiries about the oil started flowing in and I realized I could take this venture up and make it work. Unlike the clothes venture that had me employing just 3 people directly, this sunflower oil processing was making me link up directly with over 20 farmers directly. The women in my village plant and sell the seeds to me and this is impacting on families in a big way.
The costs of producing the seeds are modest, with at least $100 going into tilling, planting, weeding and harvesting an acre of the sunflower crop. Some $20 to $100 goes into inputs like seeds and fertilizers for the same size. After processing and the oil and cake is ready for the market, the revenue is about $500.
The profits I have been getting have been used to prop up the venture further, like acquisition of more farming acreage and training potential farmers to embrace the crop. I have been able to also support a kids football team from the proceeds of the business, have my children in school and guarantee flour for one needy and widowed lady around my neighbourhood.
Loan Proposal
With a desire to help people lead healthy lifestyles, I started pressing sunflower seeds and got the oil for my own use and for a few friends and family. That word spread and I started receiving inquiries for the oil, I saw an opportunity to not only live healthy, but become wealthy while at it!
I have found a facility that is lying idle, which is fully equipped with four sets of machines, an oil press, two mills and an animal feed maker. With the loan I seek, I will lease the facility and start pressing sunflower seeds for oil, mill the sunflower cake and mix it for making animal feeds! This opportunity is so good as it gives me the chance to work and save to raise a higher capital for a higher end machine in the near future. The lease will set me back some $1000 for a year. Some service worth about $400 will be required to restore the plant to top condition and some $600 for operational overheads. I have some savings I will pump into the venture, about $1300, and I pray you help me raise the remaining $700 to help me achieve this!
With the facility, I will be able to employ at least 3 people, on a permanent basis, with a cumulative wages of at least $150 every fortnight. Being a rural area where formal employment is scarce and poverty levels high, this will be a wonderful opportunity to help people fend for their families and give them a decent livelihood. Besides the 3, I will require a host of others, albeit on non permanent terms, but not fewer than 5 at any one time, to help with sorting,cleaning and airing the seeds in preparation for processing. Some no less than 8 families stand to benefit directly due to the economic prospects of employment the venture promises. With an operational facility, I expect to attract at least 50 families over the next planting season, who will later sell their seeds produce to me. The facility will encourage farmers to plant the sunflower crop, unlike previously when I could not convince them to plant for I lacked a dedicated processing machine. The benefits this promises,not just to me, but a host of others is huge! I a nutshell, at least 50 families will be impacted directly by your loan.
Besides these employees, and the farmers, the customers who will purchase the oil stand to benefit from consumption of highly nutritious, cholesterol free sunflower oil. The cake from the leftover seeds will enable us to produce affordable animal feeds which we'll sell to farmers who will notice an improvement in the health of their livestock. With increased profits, and healthy usage of sunflower oil, families will be able to spare extra funds for school fees, and avoid frequent and unnecessary visits to hospitals due to ill health.
I expect profits to increase at least 3 fold, because the high expenses I was incurring to look for and hire oil machines for processing will be no more. From the current $40 I make as profit from a 90KG raw material of seeds, I expect the profit to get to $110, because I will be managing the oil production and the animal feed production!
Assured of operational best practices, from experience in the clothes businesses you have helped me actualize, I trust this will be a great motivator to women entrepreneurs in my locale, and will help stimulate them to venture into business and alleviate poverty from their communities.
Please support me make this a success. I will repay promptly.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$541.00
Date disbursed
Feb 14, 2018
Repayment status
On Time
Projected term
13 months
Lenders
European Union, Netherlands
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