Who We Are

SANEWOPA is a newly established not-for-profit organization that seeks to enhance sustainable agripreneurship in Africa by fostering inclusion of working professionals who engage in farming as a side-business (commonly referred to as “weekend farmers”) in agriculture development.

SANEWOPA is being piloted in Malawi where it is registered as a company limited by guarantee. It is a membership-based organization that brings together Malawi’s growing number of weekend farmers to help them adopt a sustainable agripreneurship approach.

SANEWOPA Malawi was established in October 2023 and is currently in the “proof of concept” stage. In future, SANEWOPA is envisioned to evolve into an Africa-wide network of national chapters based on refinement of the model being tried out in Malawi.

Our Mandate

SANEWOPA’s mandate is built on two primary challenges:

Challenge # 1: Lack of inclusion of weekend farmers in agriculture development

Agriculture in Malawi, like in many other African countries, is changing. While the sector is still dominated by smallholder farmers, there is an emerging crop of farmers who are working professionals that do commercial farming as a side business.

These so called “weekend farmers” typically live in urban areas and farm in rural or peri-urban areas. They work in the formal economy but indulge in farming for a variety of reasons including to farm their own food, as a hobby but above all to make money to supplement their income and perhaps one day retire into full time commercial farming.

Weekend farmers are more likely to be well educated and to invest in modern farming methods. Compared to smallholder farmers, they operate from a relatively higher resource base and are better positioned to invest signficiant capital to grow their farming enterprise. Weekend farmers are also technologically adept and have better access to information about modern farming practices and markets.

Despite the enormous potential to become successful commercial farmers, working professionals have been overlooked and underserved when it comes to support services both from government and private sector. They typically fall in what we call the “missing middle”. They are not smallholder farmers but they are not large scale commercial farmers. This often means they are left out of traditional development programming which tends to focus primarily on smallholder farmers.

SANEWOPA is on a mission to change this. We exist to shed light on the significance of weekend farmers as emerging commercial farmers and to advocate for their inclusion in agriculture development programming.

Challenge # 2: Sustainability

Weekend farmers typically engage in farming as a side business in order to make money. They tend to have a short-term view or approach to farming and often prioritize quick profits above all else. Most weekend farmers do not realize that success in farming requires a long-term view and an approach that carefully balances the economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects of farming.

Weekend farmers often have limited experience and knowledge in farming. They face a variety of challenges which stymie the potential to grow their farming enterprises. Among the key challenges they face include difficulties allocating sufficient time to attend to their farming enterprise; weak or non-existent business management systems when it comes to running their farming enterprise; production losses due to environmental shocks and stresses associated with climate change; and a lack of access to markets and market information due to poor linkages with market actors.

SANEWOPA’s mandate is to work with weekend farmers and with key stakeholders in agriculture development to facilitate learning and collaboration that would result in innovations and solutions to the challenges that weekend farmers face, and to help weekend farmers adopt an approach to growing their farming enterprise that balances economic, environmental and social sustainability.

OUR VISION

Inclusive and sustainable commercialization of the agriculture sector in Malawi.

OUR MISSION

Fostering inclusion of weekend farmers in agriculture development.

Our Board of Directors

James Chiumia

Board Chairperson

James is a seasoned banker with 14 years of experience covering agri-finance, customer relationship management, and business development. His experience includes delivering financial solutions to SMEs and corporations and developing agri-finance models for both commercial and smallholder farming.

James is a Chartered Accountant (Fellow of ACCA) and graduate of the University of Malawi (Bachelor of Accountancy).

Hariet Mariani

Board Vice Chair

Hariet is a seasoned professional with over 17 years of experience in general administration and management of donor funds, operations, assets, safety and security, and human resources. She is an agripreneur focusing on macadamia farming in Neno district.

Hariet holds an MSc in Strategic Management from the University of Derby and, BA in Public Administration from the University of Malawi.

Gitau Mbure

Board Secretary

Gitau is an agricultural economist with over 15 years of experience in development, specializing in strategy development, program management, and technical leadership in food security and market systems.

Gitau is passionate about sustainable agripreneurship and agriculture commercialization. He holds a MSc in Agriculture Economics and a BSc in Agribusiness.

Towera Jalakasi

Board Member

Towera is an entrepreneur, business consultant, mentor, and coach. She has over 25 years of experience as a business consultant serving clients such as the World Bank, USAID, IFC, UNICEF, Gracia Machel Trust, FCDO, and EU.

In 2013, she established a farmer impact lead business, processing and distributing food products from baobab, Mango, and sunflower products. Towera holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from Chancellor College and an advanced diploma in business counseling from Durhun University, UK.

Juma Masumba

Board Member

With over 20 years of postgraduate work experience, Juma has held technical and management positions in local and international NGOs in Malawi, implementing projects funded by the EU, Irish Aid, USAID, and private investors. He is experienced in a wide range of technical areas related to food security and in building institutional relationships and partnerships.

He holds an MSc degree in Strategic Management from the University of Derby and a BSc degree in Agriculture from the University of Malawi.

Mercilina Kadewa

Board Member

Mercilina has over 10 years of progressive experience working in agriculture and economic development in Malawi. She has worked as a technical specialist and manager with various organizations including the UN Capital Development Fund, NCBA Clusa, CADECOM, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Mercilina is a champion for youth in agribusiness. She holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness Management from the University of Malawi.

Rodrick Chirambo

Board Member

Rodrick is a development practitioner in Malawi with experience in the areas of agribusiness and enterprise development, value chain strengthening, partnership development, capacity building, and general program management. Rodrick is passionate about unlocking the potential of weekend farmers.

Rodrick holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Malawi and a master’s degree in international business management from the University of West London.

Sustainable Agripreneurship Network for Working Professionals in Africa - Malawi Chapter

SANEWOPA MALAWI

Who We Are

Our Mandate

Our Board of Directors

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