27 Apr 2016

Life becomes interesting when you follow your passion and it gets even better when you are committed in good and bad times.

Mr Wamorena Stoffel, owner of Donsi Poultry farm in Tsabong, said this in an interview recently.

“My grandmother used to keep chickens at home in Kisa. We used to feed them, take care of them and even slaughter them on special occasions. 

I believed my love for chicken farming was developed from that experience,” explained Mr Stoffel.

Donsi Poultry started operating in 2013, with 200 broiler chicks at a rented plot in Maubelo after his mother who is also a successful business woman funded him with P5 000.

According to the entrepreneur, the good aspect about poultry farming was that the startup capital was low and his dream was to see his business grow from strength to strength.

The 32-year-old explained that he was unemployed at the time and he took the opportunity to do what he loved.

He said he started slaughtering in the first six weeks and began advertising his business through word of mouth as well as moving from office to office, house to house and at the shopping centre in Tsabong.

According to Mr Stoffel, his decision to pursue commercial chicken farming was the best he ever made in his life. 

Within six months of the existence of Donsi Poultry Farm, he managed to move from a rented space to his own.

He said he was glad to have acquired his own land and he was free to do all the developments he wished to do.

He bought a P5 000 litre water tank as there was no water supply where his farm  was located. 

“I am a firm believer that passion really pays as I was really determined to work hard to get my business running through thick and thin,” said Mr Stoffel.

Mr Stoffel shared his latest development at his farm saying he bought 100 layer chickens in January this year.

He also announced that last month he decided to try rabbit production as he bought two rabbits, a male and female which he hoped would perform well.

Mr Stoffel employed two young men to assist him with the daily duties at the farm that included cleaning of poultry houses, feeding as well as checking on the wellbeing of the birds. 

He pointed out that he would soon buy more layer chickens in addition to the first 100 that he bought.  

Despite all these achievements, Mr Stoffel said he was forced to travel to Gaborone fortnightly to buy chicken feeds as they were either not available or expensive in Tsabong.

Another  challenge that he spoke about was lack of power supply of which he said he was planning to get solar panels.

He hoped to make Donsi Poultry Farm a household name across Tsabong and surrounding villages by end of year. He planned to have make barcodes and the whole packaging of his products. 

Mr Stoffel said he believed that passion driven people were doers and that one day he would be running a chicken production house that would supply big events and supermarkets around Botswana. ENDS