APAC Investments
Established in 2013, APAC Investments is a prominent Malawian fish marketing company based in the western district of Mchinji and also operating in Dowa District. Initially, APAC served as a local distributor for a Zambian aquaculture company, operating a single outlet in Mchinji. Currently, the company sources its fish from over 2,021 smallholder fish farmers within the country through its extensive offtaking scheme. APAC planned to expand its operations to include fish feed production, which would be produced and supplied to farmers under its offtaking arrangement to enhance their productivity and increase fish volumes aggregated by the company. The Managing Director, Alex Nkhande Phiri, has 11 years of experience managing APAC and WHOA International.
Fish Aggregation and Offtaking for Enhanced Investment
Facing a growing demand for local tilapia, known as Chambo, APAC partnered with CASA to leverage the readily available supply from smallholder farmers near its outlets. APAC’s business model involved mobilizing and organizing 2,021 smallholder fish farmers (46% women) into producer groups, enhancing their productivity through training in climate-smart aquaculture management practices, and purchasing table-sized Chambo fish from these farmer groups. The partnership also supported APAC’s long-term goal of becoming a local producer of floating fish feed. This initiative capitalized on the cake by-product from WHOA International, a sister company to APAC, and focuses on cooking oil processing. CASA provided technical assistance by assessing the economic viability of the fish feed production operation as a separate business line and commercial opportunity, which led to an affirmation of the same and subsequent development of the business and investment plan. CASA also provided business development services to APAC, including the development and adoption of improved financial management systems. The partnership sought to facilitate an out-grower model with 2000 fish farmers in the central region of Malawi. CASA built the capacity of the company and provided it with all the necessary documentation to facilitate investment.
At a total cost of £GBP 60,311 in technical assistance and a grant, this 24-month project was completed in December 2023. CASA provided a hybrid of the two support modalities in terms of assistance packages, where £48,311 financed technical assistance whilst £6,000 subsidized the cost of farmer mobilisation and engagement in remote areas of Dowa, Kasungu, and also Mchinji.
APAC Investment Limited had an existing market for fish which remained unserved due to a low supply of fresh fish. The company set up a fish offtaking scheme comprising 2,021 smallholder farmers capable of producing over 300 MT of fish per annum. The farmers were also a ready market for 450 MT of floating fish feed which the company was in a unique position to capitalize on as it had access to both this market and the raw materials needed to produce the feed. All the company required was machinery to invest in manufacturing floating feeds. The company sought £180,000 in investment to roll out the local production of floating fish feed using readily available sunflower cake from APAC´s sister company, WHOA International.
Updated: December 2024