2019-07-23

Mon 22. July: Back on the internet

After 7 days we finally made it back to Makambako and access to sufficient bandwidth for doing reasonable work on the internet. Which is why I managed to update the Blog only now. Sorry for that. [Read More…]

2019-07-22

Sun 21. July: Back to the forest

The whole morning we spent in Ragpas forest to work out how to document a forest plot and estimate the value of the trees on the plot in order to calculate how much loan can be provided if these trees are the security for the loan. Oh, and how will an outsider know that the loan taker actually has control over the trees when there are no land titles? Etc etc. [Read More…]

Sat 20. July: Scheduled Cargo Service

The business idea of Francis and Rajan looks simple: One of the biggest problems that people in rural Tanzania face for earning any money is the unreliable transport to market. Cost of course is there, but when you can only hope for the best when trying to organize a truck or put a bag on a bus, then it doesn’t matter how much it costs, you might simply be stuck in the village with what you want to bring to the market. So Francis and Rajan want to take care of that problem by running a truck like a scheduled bus with a timetable. [Read More…]

Fr 19. July: Mtunza Misitu = Forest Caretaker

This means “caretaker of forests” or “forest steward” (literally “Forstwart”). Ragpa wants to start his business as Mtunza Misitu. He wants to run a forest plant nursery and sell forest plants and forestry advice, plus build beehives and sell those along with advice for honey production, and sell his services for pruning and fire-control of forests. [Read More…]

Thu 18. July: Briketting

We watched the MTM guys make brikettes. They have a huge pile of chardust as their “start-up capital”. They got it when the REPIC-supported project was terminated. [Read More…]