Participate in Competitions & Awards

Miyonga Fresh Greens was founded in 2015 and when we first began, we were farmers in a 1.5 acres piece of land. And we grew from 1.5 acres to 10 acres. So how did that happen? When we first began in the 1.5 acres of land, it was really not making any profits and it was not working well. And so we asked ourselves, when we had sat down and put down the numbers, it was making sense. So why was it not working? And so we realized that what we were doing was just farming and not doing farming as a business, that is agribusiness, and that is how we enrolled in Sinapis. Sinapis is more like a business entrepreneurship program where you are actually trained on different businesses, skills and then you apply those skills into your business every other week. So by the end of the business, by the end of this four month program, you then get involved, you then present your business plan, where you show what you have been doing because the past four months you have been learning about, okay, what is the market demand? What are the operational expenses that you need to look at, what are the financial projections? And then how do you set goals? And then you’ve come up with a final business plan. Then everybody presents their business plan and the best business plan is, so our business plan was recognized as the best business plan because we applied what we had been learning. What does that mean for us? For us it was not just about winning the award because it was about trying to ensure that we can actually solve the problem. When we began with 1.5 acres of land, our main motivation, my main motivation was actually to try and create employment for my siblings. But then I realized that in 1.5 acres of land you can have two people working, especially if you’re working with fresh fruits. 

So we had about 10 women who are working for us, but they would only work on certain days. So I asked, what do they have? What happens on other dates that they are not working at our far? And I was told, Oh, they will just walk around and try to find employment in other organizations. And so if they don’t find, they go back home and they don’t have income. So my motivation became, how do we grow the business and make it so successful that these women are able to have employment throughout the month because when they earn their employment, of course they are investing the income into their families. And then the second thing that I noticed is that often when we weren’t going to pay the women, we would require them to sign that they have received payment and some of them would resist this. They don’t want to sign it. 

So we asked, why don’t they want to sign? It is required by law that they prove that they have received payment because we have to write down our financial report and someone whispered to me, “it’s because these women cannot write.” And I see, okay, okay. If they cannot write, at this stage, there’s nothing much I can do about their education, but I can ensure that they add an income and are able to invest in the education of their children. So for us Sinapis was more like an open door for us to see how much more we can do to impact our community in our society. What it has done for us is that we then moved from being a small-scale farmer to actually growing. We’d put the investments that we won into growing into exporters, which meant that we were able to employ more women, create more employment, and have more families impacted.

It is my belief that we were all born to actually solve a problem in the world. So my question is, what problem are you solving? Do not make it your goal to win competitions. Make it your goal to solve a problem. When you become a solution to a problem, the competitions will find you and you will be recognized for solving a problem. You will not really hold for long. I remember when we first won the Sinapis competition and then, there were media people and they wanted us to do interviews and we said no to media interviews because my belief was that winning the money is not actually the best thing that could happen. What we do with the money that we have won, if you come back to us after three years and ask us, that will be when you know why we won the money. 

Because when anyone can win money and we’ve had many people winning in lotteries…but what happens after that, you know? But if you actually are solving a real problem then you will sustainably grow your business. So that recognition will only help you to either solve it faster or reach more people. That’s one of the things that you face daily and I think some of you will actually relate to this, is you wake up and in the middle of the day you say I quit! I’m not doing this anymore, it’s not worth it. You know, and, and then you take a break and you find that you’re back on it again on the laptop, you’re back to doing your prototypes. And then the next day once more someone gives you a pat on the back and you’re like, yay, at least we are making some progress. Then the third day again, why am I even doing this? This is not working! Because you are involved in coming up with certain innovations and solutions that may have not been common. And then some people at some level think you have just gone to the other side. I say, you have to have a little bit of craziness to be a social entrepreneur. 

So what then happens is when you are getting recognition or when you present your solution and you start to win awards, what it does do to you as a person and as an entrepreneur is that it sort of gives you some form of endorsement as a person. It also helps you to build your self-confidence. It also, it’s almost for me like a language that the universe is telling you, “Hey don’t give up! We still need you, keep going.” So sometimes when you look back and you’re passing through those moments where you’re like, “I quit and I’m not doing this anymore.” You look back at that and he tells you, “Hey, come on, we still need you. Hey, we’re cheering you on.” It sort of helps to give you that endorsement and gives you the self-confidence and the assurance that you are actually solving a problem. And of course winning the awards, especially when it does come with some form of financial benefit, it then helps to make up or to bridge certain gaps that you would not have been able to bridge if you had not won that award. So it’s almost like a hands up to you, like a bail out to you, “come on, yeah, we know you’re doing this. We know you’re working sleepless nights. We know you have some days when you’re not paying yourself any salary, but hey, here’s a thank you from the universe for you to keep going!”