Purity Mbae is the founder of Mashambani Diary Goats Farm in Mukono District in Uganda, specializing in dairy goats.
The farmer started keeping goats as a domestic project as she wanted to have enough milk to feed her children.
Over time, the milk became excess prompting her to start selling to her neighbours before she decided to commercialize it.
Here is her story as told by WoK.
Background
Purity was born in Kenya and studied in local schools before enrolling at the University of Nairobi.
After completion of her university education, she followed her husband to Uganda where she first worked as a community worker.
Purity started keeping goats domestically as she wanted a source milk for her children who are lactose intolerant.
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She bought three goats; two females and a male and in a short while, the milk the two goats produced exceeded their needs.
“We had a lot of milk and we didn’t know what to do with it, so we asked out neighbours if they wanted milk and they were so excited,” she said.
It was then when the demand for goat milk started shooting and as such, they spotted a business opportunity.
The entrepreneur explained that just like any other business, they also faced challenges including losing part of their herd.
Purity noted that she lost her goats because she was staying away from the farm and just communicating with workers on the farm.
“You get the reports, but the reports that you want to hear are not those that you want to know. Telephone farming is never a way to go, it doesn’t work. I’m one of the testimonies, I saw it go down,” she said.
After suffering the loss, the goat farmer quit her job and decided to concentrate fully on keeping the dairy goats.
“I had to choose between continuing getting a salary or putting all my energies of goat farming. It was a matter of risking it all,” Purity said.
Purity noted that she went into dairy goat farming specifically because the return on investment is quick.
“When you invest in diary goat farming, when you sell the byproducts daily, within three months you’ll have recovered your capital,” she said.
She, however, noted that the goats require maximum commitment because of their sensitivity.
“They’re quite sensitive to small issues, abrupt changes of the environment, too much sun and issues of worm infestation,” she said.
Purity has also added value to the goat milk produced in her farm by packing and selling Nutrifit milk and Nutrifit yoghurt.
