In May 2017 JV-Consultancies was asked by BALTUSSEN Trading & Investment N.V. (Driel, The Netherlands) to setup a business plan for their farm in Tanzania (200 ha). This resulted in a farm visit in Tanzania during June, whereby its long history as an agribusiness enterprise with mainly coffee growing was assessed. The farm was profitable till around 2008 when new (export) cash crops were introduced, but is now in ‘Survival mode’, and needs urgently some investments.

With several external opportunities and threats available, an action plan has been set up for the farm, which includes an investment plan (1) with four new proposed crops [chives, vanilla, avocado and macadamia nut] having a high return rate within a short to long-term period, including the buy-out of another farm, as this latter has an EPZ-status, and to transfer the chives production of 7 ha of greenhouses over time to Makuru Estate; (2) the setup of a new management structure at the farm including a new holding & staff structure, and a new management system. Therefore, an investment plan of USD 3,732,209 has been presented to some investors.

One of these investors would be the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Hereby JV-Consultancies assisted BALTUSSEN from Sept-Dec. 2017 with the application towards the ‘Dutch Good Growth Fund’ (DGGF), in order to obtain a loan of € 3,500,000 for the buy-out of the second farm in Tanzania (with EPZ of 250 ha). Finally, this DGGF-procedure was not honoured, but a private donor in collaboration with a Dutch bank was willing to invest in it. So, from 2018 onwards both farms will be handled with supervision of a Dutch expatriate, and a local Tanzanian manager.