Debunking The Myths Of Communal Farming

By developing and establishing partnerships, Luleka Mbete’s business, LM Holdings, has initiated a system that brings sorghum producers in the Eastern Cape together to link them to funding, technical expertise, markets and training.

- Siyanda Sishuba

Luleka Mbete established LM Holdings in 2009 to help rural businesses gain access to entrepreneurship opportunities by linking them to resources.

She says it was her own struggle to obtain production financing in time for planting that inspired her to create alternative solutions for herself and other farmers facing similar challenges.

Her journey in farming started with her plan to establish a co-operative for sorghum farming on communal land in Willowvale, in the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

Through LM Holdings, she received a grant from the Development Bank of Southern Africa for fencing and an irrigation system. She also obtained funding support from the Mbhashe Municipality to build a dam, and her initial business plan was supported by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC).

Unfortunately, the funds were often delayed and, ultimately, insufficient to get the project off the ground. In 2011, she abandoned the idea and left to pursue a career in the corporate world.

But her entrepreneurial spirit refused to settle into the comfortable and predictable life of being a salaried employee.

“In 2015, I left to start my own property business, and did some work in the petroleum industry. Eventually, in 2016, I found my way back to farming,” she recalls.

A NEW START

In June 2016, LM Holdings approached United National Breweries, a leading manufacturer of traditional African sorghum beer (umqombothi), with a proposal to become a BEE partner and also a beneficiary of the business’s corporate social investment programme. They reached an agreement in September 2016.

At the time, the brewery was owned by Diageo, a global alcoholic beverages company with a large collection of brands across spirits and beer categories, including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Guinness.