 Welcome, everybody, to the Private Property Farming Podcast. My name is Ibali Walgoyal. Thank you so much for joining me in another special episode of the Farming Podcast. Tonight, we're on episode 123. We're fast approaching the 150th episode, and I really hope that you've been joining all the conversations that we've had on the podcast thus far. Today, we're joined by an agri-entrepreneur, Bruce DiAle, who is a CEO of Brewkull Global Development. And really speaking, everything around agribusiness and access to markets and farming, and any entrepreneur's journey, access to market is quite a critical component towards any business because without customers, you have no business. And most of it's said that the agriculture industry is quite a very difficult industry to penetrate where markets are concerned. So I'm quite keen to hear what Bruce and his conversation does, especially in the fact that they work around the rural development space. So it would be interesting to know, what work do they do? How do they uplift communities within the rural areas? And how do they, as an agribusiness, generating and operating in the space, more so, how are they providing access to markets, not only for sales, but maybe the farmers that they support or the entrepreneurs that they support on the ground? And so if you have any questions, please feel free to comment on the comment box below and reach out to Bruce at the end of the show if you found any synergies and ways to create. However, let's get straight into it and welcome Bruce to the podcast. How are you doing, Bruce? I'm good. Thanks, Nium Bali. Thank you very much. Fantastic, fantastic. I'm doing good. Tani, you are the CEO of Brewkull Global Development, Brewkull Global Development. What does the company do? Well, Brewkull is an agribusiness consulting company and our primary focus is to provide world development support from an agricultural perspective to farmers and people living in the rural areas. So we have those that are really existing in the farming space and we also have those that are interested in getting into farming as a means to alleviate poverty and to access a better future. So what we do is provide training, skills development, innovative solutions and we also provide access to markets and access to finance for these farmers in the rural areas. Perfect. What type of training do you provide to the farmers and the farmers that you work with? Just tell us a little bit about their demographics. Is it young people? Is it slightly older people? Is it people that are very experienced in the industry or is it just up-and-coming farmers? So generally, in the world, we have a challenge. We're about 78% of the farmers are old and above the age of 75. So we have a lot of those who are above the age of 75 that are already farming and we're trying to help them, you know, through accredited skills development programs that are accredited through SITA. We're able to provide to them training programs that are in line with ways they can understand and they don't teach them and make it better and easier for them to do what they're doing in agriculture. And then we also have a lot of females, young people, who we provide skills development to in agriculture to help them introduce them into the agricultural space because most of them do have access to land facilities in the rural areas. But unfortunately, you find that they just don't know how exactly to go about the process of starting an agricultural venture. So these training that we provide then makes that process much easier for them. Yeah. So you've mentioned that you're obviously coming up with a solution or providing a solution to the many problems that farmers in the rural areas face. Over and above just, you know, understanding how the business operates at farm level. What are the other challenges that you've experienced on the ground that farmers, particularly in the rural areas, although the farmers that you're particularly dealing with are faced with on a daily basis? So there are three key components that these rural-based farmers struggle with. The first one is they have very little access to information, and which is why we are providing the skills development programs that we have in place. And the second one is that they have very little access to markets, primarily because of their remoteness of where they are, you know, the lack of access of roads and infrastructure and so on. So we then come up with ways to make it easy for them to have better access to markets by providing, you know, group, holding services like logistics where we're able to help them take their produce in bulk from where they are to the markets and then lastly, the biggest challenge that they face is that, you know, access to financial support, especially because there's very little confidence from a market perspective towards a rural-based farmer. So we come up with our own financial models that is a risk profile towards supporting these rural-based farmers. And it's something that the market is looking quite forward to and the farmers are benefiting from that because they're getting access to financial support which generally wouldn't. Right, so you mentioned three key components, right? It's access to markets, access to financial support, as well as they have limited access to information. Now, going back to the markets and the financial support specifically, do you find, do you go out and find markets for the farmers? Meaning, you know, do you look at what the farmer is growing in which seasons and the quantities and then you're linking them up to the markets which then obviously ties into the logistics. And if so, you know, how does your model work? Do the farmers have to pay you a sales fee, a percentage of the sales that they generate from their farm products and also going into the financial support? Are you drafting business plans for farmers? Are you seeking funding on their behalf or is Brucol Global Development specifically funding or financing the farmers in maybe short-term loans within anything? Are you just providing financing to the farmers directly from your entity? So what we do is that we have different models to approach all of these different questions. I mean, from an access to market point of view, we have farmers that already they are planting, already they have their own market, but unfortunately due to the quantity and the frequency of how often they have to go to the market, you find that they struggle to get transportation services that will link them with the relevant market. So when we come in, we then help them to link their planting processes in such a way that they're able to be able to provide them with the logistics services that will help them to be able to get their produce. They will then just be paying for the logistics. So basically they will be paying to have their product on the track. And then when it comes to access to finance, I mean, we're really very diligent in selecting the farmers that we support financially. And in that process, we put together the business plans along with them looking at where they are at the growth models and so on. So we don't necessarily wait for farmers to come to us and say, we are looking for financial support. We look at the key areas. And when we finance, we finance them in a group or in a bulk and we will put together a business case around that on their behalf. So they wouldn't necessarily have to pay us for that process. Yeah, for interest sake Bruce, which areas are you guys operating in? We are currently operating in Lompopo, Lompomalanga. And we've also had a couple of projects that we have done in KwaZulu Natal and Haudenay province. But at this present moment, most of our work is concentrated around Lompopo and Lompomalanga province. Right, there's a very nice areas with good climatic conditions. Tell me as an agribusiness owner yourself, how are then you running your business? How are you generating income? Are farmers paying your consulting fee to a system that doesn't access to information, markets, financial support, as you've mentioned? Or do you have partners that work alongside your brand and vision that support you financially to be able to support the rural farmers? Look, I wouldn't be too keen to share with my foreign business model because I wouldn't want to be inviting everybody to. Yeah, but what I can tell you is that, look, we are operating profitably and there are ways to deal with these issues. Sometimes the farmers are not always our customer, but they are our beneficiary. So we have many different institutions that want to support farmers. So we do that for them. I mean, the land bank is our client, the Department of Agriculture is our client, different sitters are our clients. So majority of our clients are corporate institutions that have a rural developmental approach to supporting people. So we don't go to these farmers and expect them to pay us a fee to provide them with skills development. For example, through the SETA, we are able to help them access discretionary grants that are available through SETA that actually takes payers money that they contribute through skills development levies. And we help them access those funds in order to provide some skills development support to them. So there are many barriers, ways in which we raise funds to implement these programs because we understand that the farmers themselves generally wouldn't be able to afford a six months or 12 months mentorship program. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So tell me Bruce, what's your background and how did you come about being in the agriculture? So I studied a bachelor's degree in agriculture and then I then studied a master's degree in business administration. But I do come from a very strong agricultural background. I mean, my father was an agricultural scientist, so he worked as an agricultural advisor for more than 30 years. So I was exposed a lot to the agricultural space by sometimes going to work with him and then I mean, even in our house at our home we've got quite a number of different fruit trees. So I grew up within that agricultural space and my passion for agriculture just brewed from there. But yeah, basically, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we've said it a couple of times throughout the podcast is that the cost of farming is increasing month to month and it seems like rural farmers, I mean, are gonna be left out. Farmers that don't have enough resources and capital or deep pockets are also gonna be left out because of the high costs in farming. What's your view, especially working with farmers in rural spaces, what's your view on the projection in which the industry would be going in the next few years? Is it gonna be difficult to access more markets or would markets become less more lenient? What's the perception on the ground with rural farmers? Do they have higher hopes to continue to farm? You mentioned that your percentage of your clients or your beneficiaries, elderly people, is there sufficient plan maybe in the near future for the elderly individuals to really pass down their agribusinesses to their kids or their grandchildren? Just maybe just give us your opinion on what your view on the agriculture sector looks like from teaching an elderly generation, helping farmers in rural spaces and also just trying to navigate the high costs in farming these days. What's the solution that BroCo Global Development is coming up with? I think the question is a very important question. Because you have to look at how the government is going to contribute to this whole process. Because understanding that the government itself has to play a huge role, it's in subsidization and also in supporting initiatives that are geared towards ensuring that these rural farmers have access to what they need. So the answer to that question is highly, highly, highly focused on the level of support that these rural farmers will get, the level of programs and the innovation in which these programs will be able to implement solutions that will make it easy for farmers to have access to what they need. So I don't think the trajectory on its own can determine anything. But if there's enough support for initiatives to support rural-based farmers, and I think we are going to head in that direction primarily because there is so much land that rural-based people have access to. And once they are programs in place to help them access markets and access violence, then we'll be able to unlock this potential that these lands have to be able to eat these farmers to export, then essentially contribute to the general economy at large. So it's entirely based on the support structure that's going to be present. And of course, companies like us and other companies that exist within the agricultural consulting space, how we are going to navigate around providing solutions that are going to make the sector better. And with your experience, is government really helping with your initiatives on the ground, especially in the regions that you mentioned, like Limpopo and Bumalanga, because it's just as farmers and individuals, government tends to get quite a lot of flack around their non-performance and non-delivery of the things that they said they will do. So maybe giving us an insight into the rural communities is government, or maybe in this case, the Department of Agriculture playing a very critical role in uplifting the communities, or are they dependent on consultants and experts like yourself to tell them in which direction rural communities are going into, especially where primary or secondary agriculture is concerned? I think the problem with this is that, you know, there are always three sets of receivers to anything that comes up. You know, firstly, when the government comes up with programs, which I generally think they do have a lot of interesting programs and good programs that they're trying to come up with to fix the agricultural problems. People like myself, institutions like mine, some of them fail to understand the actual purpose of the project, and therefore you find that the funds end up being misused and not fully doing what is supposed to bring out the outcome that is anticipated by the institution themselves. And then sometimes you find that the consultants fully understand the program, but the beneficiaries who are the recipients of the program fail to understand and to fully grasp what is expected of them and what this program is meant to do for them. You'll find sometimes people have been funded and they'll use that money to pay for their children's school fees or renovate their houses, you know? So all of these things, I think that government has really played a huge role in coming up with support programs, but of course due to higher levels of corruption and not only from the government's perspective, but also from consultants' point of view and also from a lack of understanding and a high level of... I'm trying to find the right way where beneficiaries have this syndrome of entitlement. So when they receive funds, they believe we are entitled to this money so we can do whatever it is we want with it. And sometimes that derails, actually not sometimes, but most of the time, that derails the success of many of the initiatives that the government have come up with. Yeah, I didn't ask you this before and I think it's quite critical to our discussion this evening is that the farmers that you work with, what type of commodities are they trading? Is it from grains, horticulture to livestock or is there a specific emphasis that you particularly as an organization or an entity focus on? We work with farmers from all commodities, from cotton to livestock, horticulture, grain farmers, potato farmers. So we've got a vast array of different farmers. We work with rural based farmers. So it's not specific to commodities but any farmer who is from a rural area who operates within a rural spectrum and is trying to commercialize their operation, that is the person that we tend to focus on supporting. All right, this conversation has been quite interesting and yeah, I'm thankful for the podcast because we wouldn't have known of individuals like yourself but for farmers that are listening and watching the podcast episode, how did they get in touch with you and for how long can they work with you? Is it like a fixed 12 month program, six month program or they can continuously work with the organization you know at every stages of their business life cycle in their farms and also are you only focusing on farmers or would you assist those entrepreneurs who've seen a problem in the agri space and have identified maybe a tech solution, a finance solution but sort of need a big brother to help them overcome certain challenges that they faced with in business, et cetera. So how do people reach out to you and are you only focused on farmers or you are willing to consider and assist just general agripreneurs who are providing non-primary or production level services and products? So our slogan is innovating agriculture, that is the heartbeat of our operation. So any body or any entrepreneur or any organization that is coming up with innovative agricultural solutions, we are gladly, our doors are always open to collaborate, to partner, to support, to mentor, to assist, you know because ultimately we cannot do it by ourselves to bring this sector to where it's supposed to be. And then farmers, yes farmers, our doors are always open to farmers to come. We do host mentorship programs. People are able to book a session on our website and we also have different training programs that we have. So if people want to come for a one-on-one session, they're able to book that on our website, which I will do once you give me permission to do so. Yes, you can. Yeah, so on our website is www.bruccol, which is B-R-U-C-O-L dot C-O dot C-D. And all our information is there on our landline, our office address and our email addresses. Everything is there for anybody who is looking for assistance of any sort. Oh, Bruce, I think you're doing amazing work and I think we need more organization and entrepreneurs like yourself assisting rural communities because at many times they're often left behind, even though there's a lot of focus towards rural communities, but some organizations have failed, some are not really getting it right for a myriad of reasons. That's yeah, I thank you for coming on to the podcast and for sharing us your experience and the work that you're doing on the ground with rural communities. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure. That was Bruce D'Ali from Brucol Global Development. If you missed their website, it's www.brucol.co.cd and Brucol is B-R-U-C-O-L. If you are a farmer and entrepreneur just needing some assistance, business advice, business guidance, just also as a farmer seeking assistance from access to information, markets, or financial support, Brucol is a company that you should reach out to because they have worked extensively with farmers within the Limpopo and Limpomalanga regions predominantly and they all have major, major partners that are supporting the work of the land bank, all the CETA institutions. And so, yeah, if you're needing some upskilling, some training, some mentorship, some advice in terms of how you can grow your business or start that idea that you've been thinking of within the agri space, I think Bruce is someone that you could reach out to just to get a little bit of advice and a different perspective and thinking. Reach out to them and thank you so much for supporting the Private Property Farming Podcast. If you missed this episode, it is on our YouTube channel under the Farming Podcast playlist and the Private Property YouTube channel. Please subscribe to our channel and support all the other podcasts that we have within the Private Property House or family group. And yeah, I keep following us, keep following us on all our social media platforms and keep supporting the podcast. Thank you so much. Take care.