Tupo NamFood is a local company that produces marula oil (odjove), cow butter (omaadi eengobe), sour milk (omashikwa), chickens (marathon and broilers) and eggs, and they solely depend on rainfall for their operations. Omwene-Tupopila Haitula, founder of the company, said: “the production of our dairy products highly relies on the amount of rainfall that we receive during the rainy season. Our main challenge is with low rainfall, which results in low production”.
As for the poultry products, he observed that the challenge they face is with the transportation of the products from Windhoek to the farm, and then back to Windhoek for customers.
Haitula noted that the poultry production part of the operation requires a lot of attention and specific skills, which pose a threat when the employees are not fully trained on how to handle the chickens.
He gets most of his raw materials from his farm in the Kavango West region.
“We get the raw materials used to make odjove from back home in the northern regions. We also have a few suppliers who give us the nuts from which we extract the final product. Cow butter comes from the milk which is produced on our farm. Farmers nearby us also supply us with their cow butter when they have a surplus during the specific seasons to sell for them,” he explained.
Marathon chickens are born and bred on the farm, whereas they get layers and broilers from local suppliers in Windhoek.
“We are currently only based in three towns, which are Windhoek, Oshakati and Nkurenkuru. We, however, do deliver countrywide with local courier companies. We currently do not have any export agreement in place, but it is something we would like to do in the near future as we would like the rest of the world to experience the greatness that is at Tupo NamFood products,” enthused Haitula.
As with most businesses, Tupo NamFood experienced a decline in their sales mostly due to movement restrictions brought about the Covid-19 pandemic.
“However, when the restrictions were lifted, we increased our online visibility and launched our website where people can now place their orders, and we deliver to them,” he continued.