Bellaview Fresh Fruit Processing
Industry Limited (BFFPIL) is the only processing firm in Rombo district located
at Mkuu Township, Sido estates, in Kilimanjaro Region of Northern Tanzania. The
company was lawfully established and registered as an agro processing company in
the year 2011. The company’s core values are:
1. Focus on innovation and
ground-breaking ideas to drive productivity and efficiency.
2. Strong leadership, team work and
ethical business practices
3. Care and value creation for all
stakeholders
4. Care for surrounding environment and
communities
BFFPI Ltd has two major products
which are bottled drinking spring water (trading as SEQUA Drinking Water) and
fruits juices. The packaging is done using
PET bottles of different sizes with water packed in 500mls and 1500mls
bottles (in 12x1 cases) and fruit juices are in 250mls bottles(in 24x1 cases).
The company is an agro-processing
based one aiming to use locally available natural resources and agricultural
produce for value addition. This supports the Government policies on rural
industrialization, creates market for local farmers produce and creates
employment in the rural area thus generating income and improving the economy
of a rural area.
The Company is fully pledged with
high technology plant and machinery capable of producing quality products at
low cost thus enabling the company to operate cost effectively and at a profit.
Bellaview Fresh Fruit Industry Ltd
has proven its success despite of stiff competition by other companies which
process the same products. The distribution coverage of the bellaview products
is wide, reaching many towns and cities in Tanzania such as in Dar es Salaam,
Mwanza, Geita, Dodoma, Singida Kilimanjaro,Igunga,sengerema,bariadi, Tanga region
and Kahama district as well.
The Projected market, production
capacity and financials give a picture of a profitable company that has the
potential to grow into a major player in the industry. The company is doing
everything to ensure it is well aligned and ready to utilize this opportunity
for a successful future.
2.0 Introduction
Bellaview Fresh Fruits Processing
Industry Limited (BFFPIL) is a family owned, private limited liability company
incorporated under the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania on 11th
February 2011. Four family members who are shareholders own 100% of the shares.
The company commenced manufacturing operations on 1st July
2012 processing bottled spring water from Motale springs on the slopes of Mount
Kilimanjaro for the local market. The company has a dedicated water processing
line producing bottled drinking water in two formats; that is 1500ml and 500ml
bottles. It also has an installed fruit juice processing line that has not been
operational since 2014.
The company
supplies, distributes and sells the bottled water to wholesalers, supermarkets
and other retailers in different parts of the country.
Purpose of the Investment
Tanzania has for a long time been a
net importer of drinking bottled water and fresh fruit juices, that are clean
and safe. Domestic supply deficit of these products has continued to grow due to
inability of local entrepreneurs to venture into this type of business. The
current government industrial, agricultural policies and strategies have put
special emphasis on SME development including agro-processing industries to
promote socio-economic development of the country.
The BFFPIL factory, being in the
agro-processing sub-sector, aims to facilitate the transfer of technology for
the promotion of agricultural activities and contribute to government efforts
to implement the Kilimo Kwanza Programme
which gives the agricultural sector top priority. Agricultural sector is the
backbone of the economy in Tanzania, accounting for half of the national income
and providing employment to about 80% of the country’s population. It has
linkages with non-farming sector through the agro-processing aspects,
consumption and exports and targets to provide raw materials to manufacturing
industries and market for manufactured goods.
BFFPIL’s vision is to be a company
producing high quality fresh fruit juices, drinking water and fruit pulp in
Tanzania and the East Africa region, and its mission statement is to ensure the
provision of high quality, hygienic juices and spring drinking water at
affordable costs for consumers both domestically and internationally.
Based on the above, the company has
identified the following three main goals:
·
To
promote local production of high quality, clean and safe drinking water and
fresh fruit juices in order to make the country self-sufficient in the
products.
·
To
identify and build selected profitable markets inside and outside the country.
·
To
become a competitive low cost manufacturer offering superior products in
adequate quantity, acceptable quality and acceptable price.
After surveying markets in Tanzania
and in the neighbouring countries such as Burundi, Uganda, Mozambique and
Rwanda and evaluating the demand, BFFPIL feels strongly that there is a
considerable scope for production of its planned products to cater for the
domestic and export markets. Its domestic production is of similarly high
quality products that will have a competitive edge in these neighbouring
countries.
The Initial Project Idea
The main aim of the project involved
the setting up of a plant to process fruits into fresh juices from different
types of fruit namely mangoes, oranges, pineapples, passion, etc., which are
plenty in the Kilimanjaro region and the neighbouring Arusha and Tanga regions.
Fruits processing is an agro-based industry which is ideally suited as an
instrument for rural industrialization.
- Fruits being seasonal in
nature, there is a glut of most of them in the market during the
harvesting period. Processing and preservation helps in storing them for
consumption in an acceptable form throughout the year.
- The project, being agro-based,
aims to support the efforts of the rural agricultural farmers to market their agricultural produce
such as mangoes, oranges, pineapples and passion fruits through processing
and value addition.
- Utilization of domestic
resources will create increasing demand for other resources, generate
employment especially for youth and women and provide income thereby
improving wellbeing and standards of living of people in Rombo.
- It will also facilitate the
transfer of the agro-processing technology to the rural communities hence
increase markets for their products.
3.0
Production
Capacity and Processes
Belleview Fresh Fruits Processing
Industry commenced manufacturing operations in July, 2012 by launching Sequa
drinking water as its first product in the market. The second product of the
factory was Bella Fresh Juice Product that was launched in July, 2014.
Currently BFFPIL is only producing drinking water at slightly over 60% of its
line capacity; equivalent to 60,000 cartons of 1.5lt (12x1) bottled drinking
water per month. Working capital is a big constraint in expanding this capacity
by working two shifts and ensuring there is enough inputs to support expanded
activity. Production of fruit juice was stopped due to process control and
management challenges that led to loses of revenue.
3.1 Raw Materials
The factory is designed for
processing drinking water and fruits juice. Due to the high and low season, the
factory will only produce 60% of its capacity for 6 months in a year which is
low season. BFFPIL plans to produce 864,000 cartons of bottled fresh fruit
juices per year. It is estimated that about 9984 tonnes of fruits in raw form
will be required to process fresh fruit juice on two shifts basis. The company
targets to produce 1,200,000 equivalent cartons of 1.5litre bottled drinking
water per year. This requires a total of 23,760 cubic metres of raw water from
the sources.
3.1.1 Raw materials quantity
It is envisaged that various fruits
(mangoes, oranges, pineapples, etc.) will be used to produce fresh juices.
There is adequate quantities of fruits available, particularly from the
neighbouring regions such as Tanga, Morogoro, Coast, Kilimanjaro and
Arusha. BFFPIL estimates production of
832tonnes of fruits per month would produce approximately 4406 tons of fruit
juices. The supply of such raw materials is however, very dependent on climatic
factors and sustainable fruit tree practices. Drought and poor management would
see feasible supplies of raw materials diminish drastically. This would result
in the project becoming not feasible over the period of the project. Thus
BFFPIL has taken into account the availability of raw materials from different
areas where fruits are grown or commercial cultivation and harvesting could
supplement the raw material supply and benefit the sustainability of the factory.
It has also recognized that once farmers become aware there is money to be made
from the different types of fruit and that the survival of the trees would mean
future income, they will make efforts to take care and plant more fruit trees.
3.1.2 Raw material quality.
In order to procure supply of high
quality raw materials, BFFPIL will mitigate factors affecting the quality of
fruits such as the timing of harvest, harvesting methods, handling of the
fruits, transportation of the fruits, and storage conditions of the fruits.
BFFPIL will provide assistance in ensuring raw material of good quality. This
will be brought about by setting certain quality standards within which the raw
material will be bought and by providing transport and storage facilities
support.
3.1.3 Seasonality and
appropriate timing.
Fruit trees only bear fruit for
limited time during a year, limiting the availability of the raw material to a
number of months per year. BFFPIL will take measures to mitigate the effects of
seasonality. The primary means to mitigate them is to process fruits that have
different fruiting seasons. By producing a variety of fruits, the effects of
seasonality on continuous production can be reduced.
3.1.4 Reasonable costs
Supply of and demand for fruits will
be the main, if not the only, determinant of the price. BFFPIL will ensure that
the farmers responsible for producing the fruits receive a fair price and are
not exploited .It will also ensure that fruits are purchased at reasonable
costs so that the processing factory remains viable, assuming that all other
conditions remain the same.
3.1.5 Procurement system
To ensure that a sufficient quantity
of fruits is collected to produce fruit juices at economically viable levels it
will be necessary to convey the information regarding volumes required and
prices paid to farmers that have access to fruit trees. BFFPIL will achieve
this through regular interaction and liaison with the farmers where both
parties can discuss volumes and anticipated demand.
SeQua drinking Water ...
