Doreen Michelo, a Zambian agripreneur addressing food security through affordable locally grown farm produce — Lionesses of Africa

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

My journey is one with many stories – stories of struggle, determination, challenges and success. Starting up anything is never an easy feat, but you have to start anyway and that is what I did. I had always been interested in farming and food production. We come from areas where land is a major resource, but which is not being utilized to benefit the community in the way it should. I started this journey knowing the reason was due to lack of access to resources to derive benefit from the land, so with what I had I bought my first piece of land in 2017 and never looked back. We started with growing seasonal rain crops such as maize, sunflower and groundnuts, to later venturing into poultry, and now garden crops such as cabbage, onions, okra and tomatoes. I do not come from an entrepreneurial background, the majority of people in my family are employed.

What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?

Our future plans and aspirations include:
1. Improve the conditions of service/pay for my workers
2. Start packaging our chicken and supply branded products to supermarkets
3. Value addition (preservation of tomatoes)
5. Maintain a constant supply of the various products we produce
6. Become an established skills training centre to support youths and young women in skills development and help them start up in business.