Business plan preparation for an investment in nutritious banana-based processed food derivatives

processed food
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Situation

The discovery of oil and gas resources in East Africa has increased foreign direct investment. At the same time, stringent local content regulations are providing new opportunities for entrepreneurs to build small- and medium-sized enterprises to supply food products and other services to multinational oil companies and their major contractors.

Our client, a major food service logistics company and a supplier to the oil and gas sector, required comprehensive technical diligence and a business plan for a proposed investment in processed food products based on East African highland cooking bananas (matooke). The processed food products were to service the stringent supply contracts of the major contractors, whose employees based in oilfield campsite locations are mostly Ugandans.

Industries
Business Advisory Services
Smallholder Agriculture Development
Agribusiness & Food Systems
Capital Raising & Impact Investing
Engagement

ORI leveraged the expertise of its networks to apply a rigorous due diligence process to screen food processing options. We worked with food technology experts based at the Makerere University Food Technology and Business Incubation Center to review, research, and develop a range of shelf-stable nutritious food products primarily based on East African highland cooking bananas. The range of designed products varied by key ingredients (e.g., meat, peas, beans), food inputs, and cooking processes. Detailed product evaluation arrived at a set of tasty and nutritious packaged foods.

In addition, ORI conducted extensive market analysis to determine demand dynamics in the broader market, technology fit, and associated imperatives.

Specifically, ORI assisted the client by:

  • Developing a set of product hypotheses based on interviews with packaged goods firms within the food industry and feedback from consumers, retailers, logistics, and wholesalers.
  • Bringing on board scientists and researchers based in East Africa working on shelf-stable food preservation technologies specific to matooke.
  • Conducting diligence in new product formulations, costing various options, and evaluating the potential for longer shelf-life, e.g., via pre-cooking, blanching, freezing, and alternative storage.
  • Providing food product R&D to develop innovative value-added goods such as processed foods and allied products through a structured R&D process, fundamentally applying and adapting prioritized technologies, assessing skill and capability requirements, and making process improvements.
  • Performing resource usage analyses, e.g., water and electricity, and assessing further resource use for storage, refrigeration, packaging, and route-to-market.
  • Vetting raw materials availability, including the investment required to organize thousands of smallholder farmer suppliers and contracting medium-scale farms to ensure resiliency of matooke supply, meat, beans, peas, and tomatoes, among others.
  • Completing diligence on critical food manufacturing technologies, including retorts and autoclaves, packaging lines, and raw material reception and cleaning; and assessing their competitiveness regarding resource productivity and lifecycle economics.
Outcomes
  • Two new ranges of products were designed—vacuum-sealed fresh matooke derivatives and ready-to-eat meals.
  • Our team completed a comprehensive evaluation of internationally available food-processing technologies for commercializing ready-to-eat meals. Only the most viable options were further vetted via visits to international manufacturers.
  • A road map for capital raising, a detailed blueprint for constructing a modern processing facility, and a comprehensive pathway to achieving product launch were detailed.
  • A raw material sourcing strategy with contracted farmers was developed.
  • The client understood the requirements of multinational companies' buyers regarding food product quality and stringent supplier requirements.