Talana Farms flourishes under Tlhalerwa’s leadership

When Lembie Tlhalerwa of Kwenantle Farmers and her South African partner secured a lease on the 1862-hectare Talana Farms in the Northern Tuli Block from the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) in 2016, she could not have anticipated the remarkable success that lay ahead.

Sharing her entrepreneurial journey at the Elevate, Accelerate & Impact Entrepreneurship Sessions, hosted by Stanbic Bank in partnership with De Beers Group and the Stanford Seed Network, Tlhalerwa highlighted the significant achievements of the crop farming enterprise since its inception. 

Initially conceived as a crocodile farm before pivoting back to crop farming, Kwenantle Farmers produces white maize, sugar beans, lucerne and recently added wheat. A high-impact agricultural farming business, Kwenantle Farmers currently boasts 130 employees, with 84 employed on a permanent basis. 

“That is the level of employment that we are able to do on a year-to-year basis,” she said.  

Since taking over Talana Farms, Tlhalerwa and her South African business partner have significantly increased production capacity. Initially, only about 128 hectares were cultivated, but between 2016 and 2018, they expanded to 600 hectares under irrigation.

“It is a business with impact; it is a business that has allowed us to positively impact food security in the country. It is one of the biggest challenges that this country has. It became apparent during the pandemic how insecure we are as a country when it comes to food and production,” she said. 

In 2019, aiming to boost production, Kwenantle Farmers secured P18 million in funding from Stanbic Bank to construct high-capacity storage silos, which currently hold around 5,000 tonnes of produce. Annually, the farm produces 800 to 1,000 tonnes of sugar beans and approximately 191 tonnes of lucerne, with plans to increase lucerne production to 236 tonnes. It also produces about 1500 tonnes of wheat, which it started experimenting with in 2022. 

“With maize, our production has been low over the last couple of years but at our highest capacity, we were able to pull in around 3000 to 4000 tonnes of maize per annum. We are currently working on getting us back to those numbers,” she said. 

Tlhalerwa further revealed that Kwenantle Farmers has secured another deal with Stanbic Bank for an expansion project on Talana Farms. This project will add 262 hectares, utilising a solar-powered system, with total costs amounting to P27 million. The project is expected to materialise within the next six months

Addressing the challenge of accessing funding as a commercial farming enterprise, Tlhalerwa noted that Kwenantle Farmers initially faced difficulties securing working capital as financiers were hesitant to support a start-up. They had to explore alternative options and lean on partnerships within the local business community to get started.

“We leaned into partnerships and the business community here to raise funding to get started. We started with shareholder contributions and my partner was able to inject capital through machinery that he could get into South Africa and import into Botswana. But to get working capital here as a start-up was impossible, so we had to knock on various doors in the local business community to seek financing. So knock on doors, the worst thing they could say is no,” she shared. 

A graduate of the Stanford Seed Transformation Programme, an initiative powered by De Beers Group in partnership with Stanford Graduate School of Business, Tlhalerwa credited the program with reshaping her entrepreneurial mindset. The program enabled her to view her enterprise from a fresh perspective, identifying areas for improvement. Moreover, she has been able to connect with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who she can rely on for support and guidance. 

Her vision for Kwenantle Farmers includes achieving an annual revenue target of P100 million by the end of 2025 and increasing employment numbers from 84 permanent employees to 350 through the farm’s upcoming expansion projects. Moreover, the farm also has plans to expand into fodder production and has signed another lease with the government for an additional 340 hectares to continue and expand production on their current crop mix.