Poult Vault

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Poult Vault: poult vault platform

Bamenda, CameroonBamenda, Cameroon
Year Founded:
2011
Organization type: 
for profit
Project Stage:
Idea
Budget: 
$10,000 - $50,000
Website:
http://poultvault.wix.com/poultry
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

POULT VAULT is an innovation platform that brings together resources to help local chicken farmers, poultry stakeholders and final consumers. We provide training, technical assistance, access to raw materials and markets to farmers to ensure affordable high quality chickens to end consumers.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

What if chickens could be used to solve our problems in education, healthcare, climate change and employment?
About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

In Cameroon, malnutrition especially in children is high due to inadequate protein intake caused by high costs. These proteins are not affordable to people due to the prevalence of poverty and unemployment with most people being subsistence farmers. This endemic poverty goes further to affect food security, education, healthcare and climate change drivers. This ultimately compromises social, economic and environmental development.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

• Poult VAULT has set up an innovation platform which brings together stakeholders of the poultry sector to enhance value in the poultry value chain. Our partner farmers are provided with training, veterinary services, access to affordable materials which are sourced locally. The platform also provides up to date market information service. We help our farmers develop a wide range of products such as organic fertilizers, bio gas made from chicken droppings and feather pillows. All these range of products are sold under our POULT VAULT brand. We assist crop farmers who may not have cash year round to pay for their children’s school fees, school materials and health insurance using grains which are used by our partner farms to raise chickens.

Awards

Anzisha prize, Yunus and Youth, Mandela washington Fellowship, USADF.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

Céline Ndomo, farmer and a widow with 7children was sent out of her house by her in-laws after her husband died. We convinced her to join the POULT vault platform. She was helped with resources to start keeping 50 chickens. She used the fertilizer on her farm and tripled her yield while she used the dropping to produce biogas which is much cleaner for her who used to have eye problems. With her increase in crop yields, she was able to put her children through school using the crop school fees scheme. One of her children is in university. She has grown her chicken farm from 50 chickens to 350 chickens. She recently won a court case and has gotten her house back.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

. Poult Vault has an inclusive model which creates impact. We have given chickens as loans to over 350 women and youth which has enabled them have access to alternative credit, we have installed 70 biogas units in households used for cooking which has reduced the dependence on fuel wood and curbed deforestation. We have produced 10 tons of organic fertilizers which has helped increase yields and enhanced soil fertility. Additionally, we have assisted 1000 children in rural areas to get access to education and health insurance and have supplied over 125 tons of affordable chicken to the market which has reduced malnutrition and raised incomes for producers. We have a network of over 100 farmers. We are empowering women who make up 75% of our partners, with our value of creating opportunities for all. We plan to impact 1000 farmers and 10,000 kids by the end of 2016.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

Our solution has been widely appreciated throughout Africa and we will be replicating the platform in Swaziland as a means for communities to be economically resilient against the droughts by diversifying livelihood strategies. We have gotten interest in Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso for our model . Our solution is Semi virtual and not too expensive to create. We are just facilitators throughout the value chain. We plan to be in 15 countries by 2020 and touch millions of lives. We will spread by working with country teams and franchising our philosophy and brand.
Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

Our solution is financially sustainable. We charge a 10% sales commission on all products sold under our brand. We work with research institutions, micro finance institutions, agricultural schools, distributors, local NGOs, processors and suppliers which bring other resources we need. We become more financially viable as we sign up more farmers to the network because the cost per chicken will keep going down as we gain from economies of scale.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

We are solving a wide range of problems from health, education, and climate change and employment. Different agencies such as governments and NGOs are trying to solve them. However, their solutions are not sustainable and are hardly successful because of lack of practicality, poor execution and corruption. Businesses in the chicken sector, health and education are profit driven making solutions expensive. We succeed because we use community based resources inclusively to create and deploy our solutions.
Team

Founding Story

I got into contact with chickens for the first time when I lost my wallet in a local market and was stranded. I approached an old lady and asked her to help me with transport money for me return it the next day. Instead, she gave me chickens to sell for a commission. While selling them and talking to that lady, saw how it could yield not only benefit for me, but for many more people around me. I got back and did some research and days later I started keeping chickens. While raising these chickens, I clear saw how poultry resources could solve various socioeconomic problems and I decided to build a business around this idea.

Team

POULT vault is a team of 8 full time employees, 3 part time employees and 4 volunteers. We have two divisions which is the technical and marketing division. In the technical division, we have a poultry nutritionist, veterinarian, technical field staff, and supply chain officer. On the marketing division, we have sales people, communications officers and logistics officer. We have a good team with a diverse range of skills, ages, gender and experiences for us to deliver. We call ourselves family and we radically believe that chickens can change the world.
Background
Please confirm how you heard about the Unilever Awards:

i heard from www.changemakers.com

Please confirm your role in the initiative (eg Founder/co-Founder) and your organisational title:

founder and executive director

Which of the 8 UN Global Goals (Sustainable Development Goals) pre-selected for this competition does your solution relate most closely to? [select all that apply]

No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action.

Leadership and the Unilever Awards
Please provide examples of any previous entrepreneurial initiatives you have pioneered.

I started my first business at the age of 8 selling potato chips. I launched a fruit juice company which thought me a lot about the power of inclusive models, supply chain and marketing. My 14years of experience in business selling CDs, maize, a recruitment agency and consulting has given me insight and the ability to listen and create solutions to problems. My personal passion for this business and my experiences of failure and success has made me fit for this journey.

Beyond your existing team, who else are you working with to achieve your objectives, eg partners, advisors, mentors?

Beyond my existing team, I have partners such as the USADF and Awethu projects who give me advice on how to run my business, Also I have mentorship from the Anzisha prize and from Perdue farms correspondents. I am always willing to learn and I know that this program will help me achieve my goals.

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