1

Comfort Ibrahim, Rice Processing

October 2011

Name: Comfort Ibrahim

Location: Yendi town, northern Ghana

Business Name and Location: Wunyurilim (God’s love), Yendi

Executive Summary

Business Description

Wunyurilim (God’s love) is a rice processing business owned and operated by Comfort Ibrahim

for the past 8 years. Comfort is a 50-something year-old widow, a mother of 5 children, a

grandmother of 5 grandchildren, and currently the main provider for 7 dependents.

Comfort currently buys 2 bags of unprocessed (just harvested) rice twice a week from women

who bring the rice from surrounding villages into Yendi. She consistently has four such women

(Ashitu, Amina, Sana, Samata) who supply her with rice on different days of the week. Comfort

then processes the rice at her house by soaking, boiling, drying, and milling at the local mill.

Once the rice is milled, there are bulk buyers waiting outside the mill to purchase the processed

rice from her. These bulk buyers retail processed rice in the markets or send the rice to

southern Ghana. Because of the tremendous demand for processed rice and its role as a staple

food in the country, Comfort wants to increase her inventory from 2 bags of rice to 10 bags of

rice.

Kingdom Impact

Comfort already uses some of her profits to pay for school fees for some poor children from her

village who otherwise cannot afford to go to school. She is also the caretaker of several

orphans of her relatives. Growing her business would allow her to continue to provide for

these children. She also donates to church fundraising projects out of her profit and will

continue to do so.

Investment Required

The total investment needed to start this business is 512GHS which equates to $341USD. The

loan amount is for 8 bags of unprocessed rice purchased during low price season and a large

pot and basin to process the rice.

2

Business Overview

Business Description

Wunyurilim (God’s love) is a rice processing business owned and operated by Comfort Ibrahim

for the past 8 years. Comfort is a 50-something year-old widow, a mother of 5 children, a

grandmother of 5 grandchildren, and currently the main provider for 7 dependents.

Comfort currently buys 2 bags of unprocessed (just harvested) rice twice a week from women

who bring the rice from surrounding villages into Yendi. She consistently has four such women

(Ashitu, Amina, Sana, Samata) who supply her with rice on different days of the week. Comfort

then processes the rice at her house by soaking, boiling, drying, and milling at the local mill.

Once the rice is milled, there are bulk buyers waiting outside the mill to purchase the processed

rice from her. These bulk buyers retail processed rice in the markets or send the rice to

southern Ghana. Because of the tremendous demand for processed rice and its role as a staple

food in the country, Comfort wants to increase her inventory from 2 bags of rice to 10 bags of

rice.

Products and Services

Comfort buys unprocessed (just harvested) rice from women from surrounding villages and

processes it to sell. The steps to process rice are:

Day 1: Soak rice for full day (2 bags of rice requires 3 large pots)

Day 2: Boil in the morning and dry

Day 3: Take rice to mill to remove husks

Because Comfort has been through professional rice processing training, her rice is more

hygienic, tastes better, and looks more polished than most other rice processors’. This gives

Comfort a competitive advantage in selling her rice.

Risks and Opportunities

Opportunities

Because rice is such a staple food, there is a tremendous demand for processed rice. Comfort

and other rice processing ladies have informed me that their customers who buy in bulk can

buy 20 or more bags at a time.

There are not many women who know how to process rice, since it takes a good amount of

training. Comfort has received training through the church’s women’s empowerment program

to learn to process rice in a very professional and hygienic way. Her customers notice the

difference and will buy from her before her competitors

3

Risks

Any business dealing with farm crop is directly affected by abnormal farming seasons caused by

draught, flooding, etc. For example, if there is a bad harvest one year and rice becomes scarce

in the market, then Comfort might not be able to buy as much rice from her suppliers. If there

is too much rice in the market, Comfort might not be able to sell all of her rice to customers.

A new government policy passed two years ago to supply government programs with locally

grown rice has resulted in a heightened demand for unprocessed rice. While the policy helps

rice farmers, it could potentially have an adverse effect on individual rice processors like

Comfort by buying out her source of unprocessed rice from the farmers.

Biography of Candidate

Comfort Ibrahim is a 50-something year-old widow, a mother of five children, and a

grandmother of five grandchildren. She started and has been operating Wunyurilim for more

than 8 years. Although Comfort never went to school, she did join the literacy program through

her church, Assemblies of God, and learned to read a little, although she cannot write much.

She learned how to process rice through the program eight years ago. Currently she is the main

provider for seven dependents, and one of her daughters also makes some money for the

family. Comfort has no other business, but she also farms.

Personal Testimony:

Comfort was a former Muslim and grew up in a Muslim village. She was forced into an arranged

marriage with a Muslim man much older than she was. When she gave birth to her first child,

she left her husband to stay with her family for two years to raise the child as dictated by her

culture’s tradition. She stayed with her uncle’s family, which was a Christian family in the same

village, and she observed the lifestyle of Christians and saw that Christians love and show mercy

to each other. She accepted Christ, and when it was time for her to go back to her husband,

she returned as a Christian and began to show love to her husband, even though he was a

Muslim. She exemplified 1 Peter 3:1-2 to win her husband with her conduct, so that he noticed

how she had changed and even asked her if the change was because she had become a

Christian. Many people encouraged the husband to divorce her because she had become a

Christian, but because of her goodness, he did not divorce her. He died shortly after, and

Comfort married another man, who was a pastor. This man died in an automobile accident

years later. Comfort is a cleaner for the church and also teaches and counsels other women in

the church.

Company Structure

The business is a Sole Proprietorship with no government or legal issues. Comfort operates the

business by herself but intends to hire two people to help her process rice when she increases

her stock. She would pay them each 5 GHS per week to help her.

4

Marketing

Industry and Market Overview

Rice is a staple food in Ghana. However, rice is mostly grown in the Northern and Volta Regions

by small farmers while the majority of Ghana’s population is in the south in major cities such as

Accra and Kumasi. Foodstuffs from the north are trucked in bulk to the south to supply this

demand. However, there are multiple layers of middlemen who make this happen, one of

which is the person like Comfort who processes rice to sell to wholesale sellers who will in turn

sell to the truckers going south.

Tamale is the largest city in the northern region of Ghana, and Yendi is the next largest town,

situated approximately 150km east of Tamale. There is a main “highway” connecting Tamale to

large southern cities Accra and Kumasi. Because of this, Tamale is the main trucking hub for

grains going south, and Yendi is the secondary point of collection in the region.

Rice is grown in Ghana but also imported from countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, and

the U.S. (Texas). Those who consume the historically cheaper imported rice hurt the local rice

farmers. In an effort to stimulate consumption for locally grown rice, the government of Ghana

passed a policy about two years ago stating that it will supply all schools and government

facilities (hospitals, etc) with local rice. As a result, several large milling companies have sprung

up, including one between Tamale and Bolgatonga. There is now a much greater demand for

unprocessed rice and, while the policy helps rice farmers, it could potentially have an adverse

effect on individual rice processors like Comfort by buying out her source of unprocessed rice

from the farmers.

Next to truckers who bring the processed rice to the southern region, local chop bars in villages

and towns as well as individual consumption are the major end markets for rice.

Customers

Comfort has four major customers consistently. She supplies her church’s school, Assemblies of

God school, with all of their rice for meals. She also has three other major customers in Yendi:

Lamatu, who buys her rice and takes it to Yendi market to sell, and two others who sell the rice

to truckers. Her current supply of rice is not enough for them because her customers will fight

for her rice. She believes she can sell all 10 bags of rice (including new stock) to her current

clientele.

Competition

Comfort has four or five direct competitors who also process rice in Yendi and sell at the same

mill that Comfort does. However, because Comfort has had training to process rice in the most

professional and hygienic way, she always sells out first because her rice has a more polished

5

appearance and tastes better. If she doesn’t finish selling, her competitors cannot sell. They

even ask her how she processes her rice, but she doesn’t let them know her techniques.

Comfort frequents two grinding mills so that if one mill has too many people in queue, then she

has the option of going to the other on.

Location & Distribution

When Comfort finishes milling the rice, there are customers waiting outside of the milling

factory to buy her rice. She does not need to travel to her customers.

Pricing

Comfort charges market price for her rice by the bowl. The price per bowl of rice fluctuates

depending on the season. Low season, when rice is harvested and floods the market, is

December to February. Starting in March, the price slowly begins to rise until it hits peak in

September, October, and November.

Name of Product or Service

Unit Price

in Cedis

Processed Rice - high price season 3.5

Processed Rice - low price season 2.5

One bag equals 20 bowls of rice.

Promotion

Because her current clientele are demanding more rice from her, Comfort believes that she

only has to tell her current customers that she has additional inventory. However, she would

also encourage current customers to direct new people to her through referrals.

6

Financial

Startup Costs

Startup costs to ramp up the business include 8 bags of unprocessed rice for inventory, a large

pot and basin to process rice, and some operating cash for the first month.

One-Time and Startup Items Cedis $

Tools and Equipment (see below) 100 $67

Equipment Installation & Prep. $0

Starting Inventory 240 $160

Veterianary Fees $0

Advance Rent $0

Other Fees (legal, etc.) $0

Licenses and Permits $0

Initial Advertising & Promotion $0

Operating Cash 172 $115

Total Start-up Expenses 512 $341

Investment Required

Investment required is 512 GHS, which is equivalent to $341 USD.

Financial Plan

Assumptions

• All unit prices and unit costs are based on a “normal” year, when rice is harvested at the

expected time. On an off-year, when rice becomes scarce or floods the market, the

margins will change.

• Assumes that Comfort can turn over all her inventory (2 original bags + 8 new bags)

twice per week. She insists she can actually turn over all her inventory 3 times per

week, but a conservative assumption was made. She intends to hire two people to help

her maintain inventory turnover.

• Assumes that current expenses for firewood, water, milling, and transportation stay the

same.

• Assumes that market conditions will not change and government policy will not affect

her ability to obtain unprocessed rice.

7

Projected Income StatementWunyurilim - God's love (all amounts are in $)

Year 1 2 3

Income

Processed Rice - high price season $6,720.00 $6,720.00 $6,720.00

Processed Rice - low price season $4,800.00 $4,800.00 $4,800.00

Gross Sales $11,520.00 $11,520.00 $11,520.00

Expenses

Cost of Goods Sold $7,680.00 $7,680.00 $7,680.00

Wages $741.33 $741.33 $741.33

Water $256.00 $256.00 $256.00

Firew ood $512.00 $512.00 $512.00

Milling $512.00 $512.00 $512.00

Transportation $96.00 $96.00 $96.00

Loan Payments $326.67 $66.00 $0.00

Total Expenses $10,124.00 $9,863.33 $9,797.33

Projected Cash Flow

Cash Profit $1,396.00 $1,656.67 $1,722.67

Loan Proceeds $341.33

Start-up Costs $226.67

Cash Flow (Cumulative) $1,510.67 $3,167.33 $4,890.00

Financial Investment Required

Cedis $

Loan Amount (Principal) 512 $341.33

One-time Service Fee Percentage 15.00%

Number of Years 1

Months before First Payment 2

Monthly Payment Amount 49 $32.67

Total of all Payments 589 $392.67

Total Service Fee Paid 77 $51.33

Loan to be paid back in 12 monthly installments of 49 GHS, or $32.67 USD, over a 1 year period.

First payment to be due at the end of the 3rd month.

8

Action Plan

Date Item

Jan 2012

Jan 2012

Hire 2 people to work for her

Buy 8 bags of unprocessed rice