I am so pleased to announce yet another guest post on Africa Business Jumpstart that will help to inform, inspire, guide, and motivate you towards making informed Africa business decisions. What I am really pleased about is that the author, Marc van der Sterren, simply contacted me after receiving my free monthly Africa Intelligence in his inbox. A few weeks later, here we are. And this is really the essence and vision of Africa Business JumpStart, I hope that you will all use my blog and its related social media sites to mutually engage, learn, and support each other in your endeavors.
So let me introduce Marc quickly to you. Marc van der Sterren is an agricultural journalist from The Netherlands with a lot of African experience. Through his weblog, Farming Africa, he offers interesting news and insights about farming in Africa as well as all kinds of services around this theme. So feel free to get in touch with him!
Here is Marc’s interview with the founder of Africa’s biggest….(yes, still rather unusual in many part of Africa)….snail farm. As we will hear, the biggest snail Farm of Africa, Nwapa Snail Farms, will not only produce snails for the Ghanaian and the export market, but it also aims to improve local Ghanaian markets.
Marc, take it away!
Farming Africa talks with Justin King, Founder and CEO of Nwapa Snail Farms. First, King explains his business plans in Ghana:
‘Nwapa Snail Farms is a start-up business with lofty ambitions and very aggressive growth plans. Our vision is to develop the largest commercial snail farm in Africa. In addition to generating substantial profits, our mission exists of three parts: eliminating market inefficiencies within local markets; creating substantial economic opportunities for those at the Base of the Pyramid and utilizing all components of the snail in developing and commercializing innovative and highly sought after products.’ 
Where does the idea come from?
‘Previously I was involved with an organization that had set up a very small scale snail farm in Ghana as a way to create jobs for a few rural farmers. While I believed in the mission of the organization, I became concerned that, due to a variety of internal factors, the organization would always be very small scale. Coming from a strong business background, I decided to do something about it and Nwapa Snail Farms was born. While snail farming itself is not a new concept, I do believe that we are unique in our approach and vision of producing snails for much more than just human consumption.’
Why Ghana?
‘I have been living in, traveling to, and starting businesses in Ghana for the past 4 years so my network is strong there. From a market opportunity, Ghanaian’s love their snails. Currently, demand outstrips supply. The government is very supportive of agribusinesses like ours and Ghana has been under democratic rule for over two decades. Finally, the type of snail that we are producing is native to West Africa (including Ghana) so our snails are living in their natural habitat.’
But there will be other markets, besides Ghana?
‘Initially, we 
will focus on local markets, given that demand outstrips supply. As we ramp up operations, we plan to focus on other parts of Africa and Europe. From a product perspective, our mission is to utilize all components of the snail to produce and commercialize snail-based products that are good for people, animals, and the environment. Our initial product offering will be based on products for human consumption, however our product pipeline includes other innovative products focused on personal care, medical, animal care, etc. As we are an early stage start-up, I can’t be too specific right now on our product pipeline, but happy to share more details as we go along.’
What are you going to feed the snails?
‘Both natural feed as well as formulated feeds so as to maximize efficiency and growth.’
What’s the great bottleneck at the moment? Can readers of Farming Africa assist you with something?
‘Right now, our biggest focus is on getting the right individuals involved in the business so as to ensure our success. We would be interested in connecting with individuals who have experience with commercial snail farms either from an operational or technical perspective.
We would be interested in connecting with buyers as well, however that is probably a little further down the road once we become fully operational and producing at scale. Finally, we are rounding out our investor base and would be interested in connecting with any interested individuals or groups, especially those with connections in the European markets.’
Thanks so much, Marc, for your guest blog here on Africa Business JumpStart, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the interview. I have to confess, I had no idea snail farming was big business in some parts of Africa….we all still learn about our continent and each other as we go along- and that’s the beauty of it! By the way, dear friends in Ghana, if you want to learn more about snail farming before going it alone or if you have a relative that is not so crazy about entrepreneurship like you are: Nwapa Snail Farms is currently offering a few job positions and internships on their farm.
And please use the comment section below to engage and connect.
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Wow, I am amazed but I like it at the same time. These opportunities will help Africa to compete in the global arena.