About GIPA FOODS & GENERAL SUPPLIES LIMITED

• Type of company: Limited company
• Year of registration : 2021
• Number of employees: 8 full time employees, 4 of whom are women

Business model

Mission: To provide superior quality food products to our customers.

Vision: To become a leading foods brand in Africa.

In Tanzania, cassava is a staple food crop that is a resistant to climatic changes, diseases and pests, and can be harvested throughout the year. There is large offer of quality cassava seeds, which is encouraging for further development in the sector. Cassava can be transformed and used for a variety of purpose such as animal feeds, textile, pharmaceuticals, building materials, paper etc. The market size for this crop is estimated to be as large as about 100 billion USD, especially in the global context of growing populations, including in Tanzania.

Despite its advantages and importance in the Tanzanian economy, local opportunities in the cassava sector are being missed. The lack or poor quality of post-harvest management causes the loss of cassava harvest, which in turn leads to low volume of processed cassava products. It is estimated that Tanzanian smallholder farmers still face about 42% losses due to poor technologies and only gain small incomes of about 120 USD per hectare. As a result, 99% of the cassava starch used in Tanzania for food or industrial purposes, such as binders, thickeners, stabilisers, and sweeteners, is imported.

Gideon founded GIPA FOODS & GENERAL SUPPLIES LIMITED (GIPA FOODS) to provide smallholder producers with a cassava processing solution that reduces post-harvest losses by adding value to the crop to meet part of the local demand for cassava starch. Gideon has developed a prototype of a mobile cassava processing plant that can be used directly on the fields to avoid transport costs and delays, and so maintain the product quality.

GIPA FOODS is pioneering the development of cassava processing innovations that are accessible to smallholder farmers in Tanzania.

The company operates on the local market with a wide range of industrial stakeholders that need cassava-based (by-) products for their activities.

Strong relationships with smallholders, cooperatives…

GIPA FOODS outsources raw cassava from 74 smallholder farmers, of whom 80% are women, and with whom they have entered a supply contract. The company also offers extension services to the farmers to train them on good agriculture practices and value addition, as well as to link them to producers of improved cassava seeds.

Products and markets

GIPA FOODS produces two types of products from the cassava tubers: starch and animal feeds.

The cassava starch is made from fresh white cassava, is natural, white, and has a neutral taste that enable it to be used for many purposes. It can be readily modified chemically, physically, or biologically, and used in the production of other useful products like textiles, adhesives, beverages, confectionery, pharmaceuticals, and building materials.

In addition to their main product, GIPA FOODS also produces animal feed as a by-product.

GIPA FOODS has a distribution shop in Dar es Salaam and works with distributors to further sell their products. The sales occur at business-to-business (B2B) level with industries in sectors such as food, breweries, feed, textile, pharmaceutical, paper, building materials etc.

The company mainly sells their products on the local market (more than 90% of the total sales) but also to regional markets.

GIPA FOODS processes cassava but also finalises the end products which includes packaging and branding. The company also distributes their products either directly to other professionals or indirectly through agents.

Innovations: Milestones and expansion plans

GIPA FOODS has developed an innovative technology to process cassava using locally made machinery.

Another key achievement for the successful operationalisation of the company has been the building of an industrial facility in Mlandizi, Kibaha District, Tanzania. This investment of about 38,500 USD has enabled to industrialise all the production layout and flow charts in-house and so to achieve minimum valuable products and profitable growth. The company also has their own distribution shop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

By the end of 2023, they had produced and sold over 60 tonnes of cassava starch with a gross margin of close to 40%.

GIPA FOODS has been licensed to process cassava products for the export market in an export processing zone called Benjamin William Mkapa – Special Export Zone. This is a key milestone for the development of the company’s activities and markets.

The company has strengthened their operations by implementing the use of systems and software to keep records, analyse them and increase efficiency.

The company used the AgriTech solution LEOLEO to ease communication with their out growers and monitor the production of raw material. Farmers can update their yield progress on the application, thus informing GIPA FOODS about the timing for harvesting or any challenge they might be encountering.

For accounting activities, the company uses the easy accounting system named QuickBooks that performs many accounting functions, including: tracking income, expense, goods and services tax (GST) and value added tax (VAT); creating and sending custom invoices and quotes; connecting to the bank; managing bill and payment; tracking employee time etc.

GIPA FOODS has also launched an E-commerce website to start selling through their website.

Success factors and lessons learned

The innovation developed by GIPA FOODS contributes to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDGs n°1 no poverty, n°2 zero hunger, n°12 responsible consumption and production by minimising post-harvest losses, generating reliable income for smallholder farmers and ensuring food security.

The company estimates to have rescued more than 240 tonnes of cassava tubers from spoiling and to have recycled over 181 tonnes of cassava by-products (peels and straw) into animal feed. By 2028, the company plans to respectively have minimised cassava starch scarcity in Tanzania by 15% and post-harvest loses by 16% to smallholder farmers.

The sale of the processed products has generated over 15,400 USD thus significantly improving the smallholder farmers’ income. Moreover, by providing extension services, the company has shared post-harvest knowledge to 112 local farmers.

Since its inception, the company has attended many business workshops and products exhibitions organised by different stakeholders including the government to gain knowledge and promote their products. In 2023, GIPA Foods participated at the African Food Systems Forum (AGM).

The positive contribution of GIPA FOODS to the agricultural sector in Tanzania have been acknowledged by the award for the best agricultural produce processor in the Kilimo Marathon Awards and Expo 2021/2022.

Additional Resources

• GIPA Foods Business Profile (English)
• GIPA Foods Fiche d'entreprise (français)