agri-wes zambia
DESCRIPTION
Planting the seedTRANSCRIPT
F E A T U R E
www.agriwes.com
e s s e n t i a lm
ag
az
ine
. . .essent ia l ly your bus iness
Planting the seedPlanting the seed
Planting the seedPlanting the seedIn the last few years, agricultural chemical supplier Agri-Wes (Zambia) has recently branched out into the farming machinery market. CEO Nico De Kock tells us how the company — and Zambia's agricultural industry as a whole — has changed since Agri-Wes (Z) was first established.
1
www.agriwes.com
An agronomist by trade, Nico De
Kock left South Africa over twenty
years ago to pursue opportunities
in the Zambian agricultural industry. By
January 1995, he had established a base
for Agri-Wes (Z) in FarmCentre Mkushi,
and has been supplying agricultural
chemicals and seeds to farmers ever since.
“Everyone thought we were mad for going
there,” he tells us. “It was a very small
place with maybe thirty farmers. But since
then we've grown, and Mkushi's grown,
and Zambia's grown — and we did not
foresee it, at that stage.”
Zambia has changed dramatically over the
past two decades, going from having
virtually no infrastructure to being one of
the most urbanised countries in Southern
Africa. The Minister of Local Government
and Housing recently predicted that the
majority of people in Zambia will be living
in cities and towns by 2030, and with the
population also on the rise, sustainable
urban development is now a serious
priority.
“When we first came here, the main road
was one big pothole from Luskaka,” says
De Kock. “It was so bad you could barely
drive. Today the roads are quite good, but
the problem we've got now is that there's
too much traffic. The country has grown so
e s s e n t i a lm
ag
az
ine
2
much and the road structure has struggled
to keep up with that, but at least you can
drive, albeit slowly and in heavy traffic.”
Agri-Wes is a distributor for some of the
most respected chemical companies in the
world, including Syngenta, Villa Crop, and
Arysta. In 2012, Agri-Wes branched out
from chemicals and into the world of
machinery and began distributing
Vaderstad Verken machines and spare
parts.
“We got our first sale after about a year of
representing them,” De Kock tells us. “It
takes time to gain the confidence of the
farmers.”
The success of the Vaderstad products
prompted Agri-Wes to expand on their
machinery range, and in September 2014,
they became the official Zambian
dealership for CLAAS farming machinery.
“It's a major addition to our business. We've
basically got two divisions now. There are a
lot of challenges involved in starting a new
business, so we decided to keep it as one
company and run it as two divisions,” he
explains. “There is already some CLAAS
equipment in Zambia, but not a lot. CLAAS
had quite a bad name as far as backup
service is concerned. Machinery was sold in
Zambia, but servicing and support were
hard to come by. Most people know they're
very good products but the support service
was poor. It's our job to convince people 3
“ We get help from CLAAS Germany and we work through Kempston Agri, which is the CLAAS importer into Southern Africa,” ... “Our relationship with both of them is fairly close, and communication is pretty quick. Kempston have a representative who visits Zambia quite regularly.”
“
For Financial Advisory and Business SolutionsTailored to the
Agricultural Industry
Contact:+260 977 824 834+260 978 002 050+260 977 362 388
Email: [email protected]
Mkushi Farm Block , Zambia
that we will be able to deliver this service.”
Agri-Wes' reputation for reliability,
integrity, product availability and customer
service has been a point of pride for the
past 20 years, and positions them as the
ideal company to handle the servicing and
support of CLAAS machines.
“We get help from CLAAS Germany and we
work through Kempston Agri, which is the
CLAAS importer into Southern Africa,” says
De Kock. “Our relationship with both of
them is fairly close, and communication is
pretty quick. Kempston have a
representative who visits Zambia quite
regularly.”
Machinery may be new ground for family-
run Agri-Wes, but it's a challenge they've
faced responsibly.
“It's been a big learning curve,” says De
Kock. “Repairing machines is not an area
I've got experience in, but my son is very
technical-minded and he's running that
division of the business.”
Up next for Agri Wes is the possibility of
opening a workshop in Lusaka. Most CLAAS
customers are based around Lusaka and
Southern Zambia, and Agri Wes already has
an office there where spare parts can be
purchased. The company is also busy with
an advertising campaign, designed to raise
its visibility and profile within the Zambian
market.
“Overall, things are going well. Zambia's
agricultural economy is under pressure and
we've got a couple of challenges — for
example, we don't have big capital, which
limits the number of machines we can have
immediately available,” explains De Kock. “I
see the business growing as people get
more convinced that we are here to stay
and we can deliver service. I suspect it's
“ Everyone thought we were mad for going there,” ... “It was a very small place with maybe thirty farmers. But since then we've grown, and Mkushi's grown, and Zambia's grown - and we did not foresee it, at that stage.”
“
going to be a slow growth, and maybe that's
a good thing because then we can grow
with it. It's sustainable. If you get a flash in
the pan and sell twenty machines in one go,
things can become difficult.”
5
Let us do the writingYou just need to do the talking.
The world is reading
www.essentialbusinessmag.com
Share your business storywith an essentially committedpartner today!
Send your success story to:[email protected]
Farm 3168
Mkushi, Zambia
Tel: +260-965122212
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact our office in South Africa
Contact Details
www.essent ia lbus iness.com
e s s e n t i a l
ma
ga
zin
e
. . .essent ia l ly your bus iness