Below are listed some business ideas, advanced by leaders in the WILMA network, which have received significant help from WilmaFund and WILMA through consultations, research, and planning. This work has been done in Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda in addition to Tanzania. They illustrate some types of enterprises that WilmaFund will invest in during the next few years.
The Great Lakes Mushroom Company
The Great Lakes Region of Africa will be home to a vibrant new industry centered on mushroom production, which links agro-waste with both animal husbandry and horticulture. "GLM" will go far to replace the dying coffee culture of this region. It will be a multinational African company with centers near the lakes in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Malawi.
CDA Computer Centers
Shops in district capitals will offer internet access and other ICT services, in combination with training courses for beginners and professionals interested in business applications. Preferential access to machine time as well as special training for CDA members will provide earning opportunities for the CDAs' micro-enterprises.
Language and Business Orientation Services
Continuing a business started several years ago by ILOS and Save The World Fund (early NGO partners of WILMA in Tanzania), WilmaFund will invest in a business offering short, intensive instruction in Swahili and orientation to the business culture in Tanzania and East Africa. Clients will be college-level interns, fresh MBAs, and seasoned experts coming to Tanzania to work in WilmaFund enterprises as managers, advisors, trainers, and technicians. WilmaFund, which is already hosting interns from America who need this training, has spotted this as a distinct business opportunity.
Rukanga CDA Mining
Small-scale gemstone mining on traditional lands long occupied by poor peasants is a life-sustaining activity of the arid regions of Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. A CDA in the sub-location of Rukanga, Kenya, would be composed initially of small-claims owners holding traditional rights to mine for precious gems. These are plentiful enough in the surrounding area to attract the big mining companies. Rukanga CDA Mining would be a cooperative that permits smallholder members of the CDA to have access to the heavy equipment, processing facilities, marketing expertise, and legal assistance that they need to compete with big invasive companies that are bidding to take away their claims.
Nya Nya Dam and Water
The restoration and improvement of Nya Nya dam and its reservoir, in Makueni District, Kenya, would be the starting point for bringing a reliable, all-season water supply to the fertile farms of the surrounding area, permitting development of irrigated cash crops in high export demand, such as French beans and passion fruit.
Taita Hills Dairy
A dairy cooperative based in Voi, Kenya, would serve CDAs in the remote and fertile highlands of Taita-Taveta District, where success in raising cows has created a large potential for milk production that is being wasted due to lack of transport, capital, and marketing facilities. Products would be sold locally initially, and there is great export potential through the port of Mombasa.
Twiga Aquaculture
Twiga ("giraffe" in Kiswahili) Aquaculture will establish a replicable process for fish farming, particularly tilapia, both for local consumption and for export in dried and smoked forms. It will exploit recent discoveries in the production of fish food for fast growth of farmed fish.