A service-backed loan funded the turnaround.

The business

Egg Production Uganda Ltd, known as EPL, is a poultry farm in Mityana District, Central Uganda. Women's Bank, part of the FCA Group, established it in 2019. The target is 25,000 layers producing premium eggs.

The farm is a responsible production model in social, environmental and economic terms. It supports its own workers. It also supports a group of smallholders nearby who grow maize for the farm.

What went wrong

At the end of 2021 EPL employed 14 people, all of them young. The business could not operate sustainably. COVID-19 closed the Ugandan economy. Every member of staff at the farm caught the virus. Construction timelines slipped, and the management came under strain.

The pandemic also hit the price. Hotels and restaurants stopped buying, customer demand fell, and the egg price went down with it. Capital alone would not have fixed that. The business needed the skills to recover and to reach the original targets.

What we financed

The owners asked MMOF for a turnaround plan. The answer was a service-backed loan. That instrument bundles finance with the services the management needs for growth. In this case, three services came with the money:

• Production planning
• Financial management
• Go-to-market planning

The loan supplied the cash to effect the turnaround. The services supplied the core competencies the business was missing.

Where it stands now

The turnaround programme worked. EPL is consolidating its market and moving into the premium segment. A carefully prepared go-to-market plan guides the business.

Commercial planning now includes new business relationships and longer-term contracts with customers and suppliers. The ecosystem around the farm includes the female smallholders who supply it. Supporting their livelihoods, creating jobs and promoting women's entrepreneurship stay in strong focus.