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About Us
How it all started...
The journey started one holiday when I visited my home in rural Nyeri (Kenya) where I grew up.
After a festive meal of nyama choma (goat barbeque), as a habit rather than necessity, I needed a toothpick… to clear up what always seems to get stuck between our teeth!
Made in China!
To my amazement, the toothpicks were ‘Made in China’. Over 10,000km away. China has one of the best models of poverty eradication that Africa should emulate. However, I could not understand how such basic items of everyday use could not be manufactured locally, empower the rural folk with jobs, eradicate poverty, and restore dignity to our population.
Africa has massive a challenge! Africa has become one huge consumer market. We are not a production economy. Whether services or goods, we tend to depend on imports for everything.
Our vision is to Get Africa out of Poverty and provide families with a dignified living.
We are motivated to Enable and Empower production and manufacturing businesses that create decent and sustainable jobs.
Our business encourages local production, consumption and export of quality goods and services from Verified African Producers.
Our Motivation?
Viwanda is looking at how we can change the narrative and "Redefine Africa"
We support and help develop cottage-manufacturing industries in the rural areas that utilize local raw materials to produce quality goods at high local demand, price-competitive, and sales are driven by technology and rural folk.
Made in Africa? Our beginnings and motivation can genuinely be captured in that one statement
Communities in Africa are so much dependent on imports for the very basic needs and simple goods that could otherwise be made locally. Production that creates jobs and lowers the cost of living. Employment that alleviates the very poverty that has sunk these communities into destitution.
Africa overreliance on basic items means that it cannot offer value to the world despite abundance of local resources not available elsewhere in the planet.
The Challenge
So, it was in an African village that Viwanda was born; after using imported toothpicks that could otherwise have been made in a local business.
This encounter provided context of the fragmented connection between our economies and basic livelihoods in the local communities. Despite abundance of local skill, educated personnel and natural resources, there is starvation amidst plenty.
How does a young man provide for his family in a 400 square meter piece of ‘arable’ land, jobless and unskilled? The cycle of poverty and survival for meagre livelihoods leads to misery and indigence that is difficult to get out of. It is disheartening for any parent to watch desolate and hopeless faces of their children, when they cannot provide for basic food, clothing and healthcare needs.
The solutions are simple, but not easy. Commerce.
What is commerce, you may ask?
You are the solution!
At Viwanda we believe the solution comes from the person, the business, or community that is seeking value; YOU, THE CUSTOMER.
What product or service can we provide from Africa? How can we add value to your life, your business or your community?
Founder
Viwanda was founded by Dr. Chomba Chuma, a medical doctor, entrepreneur, and visionary.
As an entrepreneur, he has a great understanding of the importance of local manufacturing and production as a means of poverty eradication, offering sustainable jobs, and empowering the community. After years of living in South Africa from his native country Kenya, and traveling extensively, his passion for uplifting local communities in rural Kenya culminated in this project.
Money is like blood and keeps the economy running. The movement of money will always and inevitably flow more to those who primarily produce and less to those who primarily consume. This understanding can explain much of the poverty and despondency that is experienced by most African nations, and more so in the rural areas.
Production then became the main driver behind Dr. Chuma’s motivation to make changes to the rural areas where he grew up and create a replicable model for other parts of Africa in general.