Norfund has made a $2.75m (23.3m NOK) loan commitment to Afrisphere Worldwide, who trades as Nyama World with fully integrated beef production company in Malawi. 

Nyama World was founded in 2010 and is a growing agribusiness with a recognized domestic brand of high quality meat. 

It has since developed into a fully integrated value chain with a feedlot, a fattening farm, a halal certified processing plant and a wholesale distribution system combined with six retail outlets.

All livestock are sourced, processed and sold predominantly in Malawi. 

The strategy is to expand the domestic business, and in the near future to build exports into neighbouring countries and the Middle East markets.

Once the business is fully developed, the aim is to engage as much as up to 30,000 smallholder farmers in an integrated value chain.

Nyama World has two main products; cattle meat and goat meat. 

To secure stable supply, Nyama World has invested in a 52ha feedlot farm outside Mzuzu. 

The current per annum capacity of 1.500 heads will grow to about 12.000 heads of cattle. 

The company has proven that cross-breeding of the  Bonsmara cattle breed (from RSA) with the domestic Zebu breed facilitates  up to a 30% higher yield of high quality meat.

The breeder program has been developed with support from the Dutch NGO PUM and is endorsed by the Malawian Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development.

Nyama World has is parallel developed an assistance program for the local smallholder farmers in partnership with the Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund and the Rural Livelihood and Economic Enhancement Program. 

The aim is to assist the farmers to improve their cattle farming based on the new Bonsmara cross-breed. 

Structured smallholder cattle farming will thereby become a viable economic alternative to traditional and lower priced cash crops such as tobacco.

Norfund’s debt investment will secure approximately 200 direct jobs, generate local taxes and important foreign exchange to Malawi, which one of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs six high priority countries.

The main use of Norfund’s investment is to build a modern Halaal certified abattoir, which will be one of the first of its kinds in the region. 

“This will enable the company to enter export markets and thus earning the country much needed foreign exchange revenues,” Norfund said.  

“The most important and developmental contribution is, however, the increased market-, income- and capacity-generation for thousands of smallholder livestock farmers that is enabled through Nyama World’s off-take contracts with a pre-agreed price. Livestock can thereby move from being an under-utilized insurance policy for Malawian families to a cash generating asset.”