Chiyanika Nakasamu empowers farming communities in Zambia through innovative agri-solutions
Chiyanika Nakasamu from Zambia, holds a degree in Banking & Finance from the Copperbelt University. He is the co-founder of Fourth Line Limited, an agribusiness investing and empowering farming communities in Zambia through innovative Agri-solutions.
In its diversified portfolio, one of the key projects Chiyanika managers involves beekeeping. The project extends social and economic support to rural communities through partnerships in the production of organic honey and value-added products for both domestic and export markets. Chiyanika trains small scale farmers in rural Zambia in beekeeping, sustainable forest use and provides farmers with hives as an alternative to charcoal production. “Hives are environmentally friendly and reduce carbon discharge which helps to reduce environmentally induced shock on livelihoods” says Chiyanika. The beekeeping project trained over 400 farmers. In addition, it gives 5 beehives to every farmer who successfully completes training and recycles tons of wood waste to manufacture beehives. Over 2000 beehives have been produced to date. The project increased farmers productivity from 15 to 75 Kgs of honey each season.
Chiyanika worked as a junior Financial Analyst in 2017 for an accounting and auditing firm before undergoing training in Business and Entrepreneurial Development in 2018 through YALI RLC-SA. He says the training was very insightful and informative. He gained important skills in business management and entrepreneurship which he combined with his experience as a junior analyst to start Fourth Line Limited in 2019. Chiyanika says the YALI training offered him an opportunity to be an agent of social transformation in his community.
He is currently working on the Pollen project which seeks to address financial exclusion among farmers. Pollen is a USSD based village banking service held on the Celo block chain intended to make savings circles accessible to low income rural communities. Its aim is to provide an ultra-efficient ecosystem for peer-to-peer lending to service the unbanked, promote savings, and generate data to offer affordable loans. Chiyanika says by providing the unbanked with a means to save, borrow, and lend, they not only help build financial wealth, but promote financial literacy.
