Dependence on old farming techniques limited 32-year-old Pili Kashinje’s potential as a farmer. She expected farming to yield higher results and quicker returns, but this was not the case when she first began. Not until she joined Feed the Future Tanzania Advancing Youth which invests in entrepreneurship and savings and lending training for youth in Zanzibar. Pili not only grew as a farmer; she transformed her love for farming and agriculture with an acquired business approach to a profitable enterprise.

Following the training that she received, and drawing upon her experience in agriculture, Pili founded Kashinje Products Limited in 2018. The business adds value to orange fleshed sweet potato crops by processing them into flour. They are then sold across Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland.

In the nascent stages of building her company, Feed the Future Tanzania Advancing Youth worked with Pili and continuously provided her mentorship, technical assistance and market exposure opportunities that improved productivity of her business. Advancing Youth also linked Pili to Feed the Future Tanzania Mboga na Matunda (“Vegetables and Fruits”) who provided her with quality seeds of the nutritious sweet potato variety known as Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes. Within the Advancing Youth activity, Pili joined a youth savings and lending group, where she was able to save and borrow money to assist her business to take off.

Using a small milling machine at her facility, Pili now produces 400 kilograms of sweet potato products from the potatoes that she farms per month. She generates 12 million Tanzania shillings ($5,161) annually in sales to 15 schools across Zanzibar, and directly to other customers.

“Initially, I owned half an acre of land, but since the expansion of my business, I now own 12 acres of land. Expanding my business exponentially has helped me employ other youth. I currently have eight youth workers whose families I support,” says Pili.

In addition to her success with Kashinje Products Limited, the expansion of Pili’s business has allowed her to construct her own house, pay school fees for her only child who is enrolled in a school outside the country, and is currently finalizing the construction of a processing factory and a packaging warehouse for her products. The packaging warehouse includes cassava flour, moringa plant flour, and an assortment of spices and nutritious specially mixed flour for children under five.

Pili is determined to become one of the most successful women agripreneurs in her region. “I have huge expectations for the future. I want to start a fruit processing factory, to export my products out of the country and help to provide jobs for many more youth.”