Tawonga Cooking Oil Processing Enterprise is an operational business model registered as a partnership, founded in 2018. The enterprise was established after conducting market research in the Embangweni community in the Mzimba district, located in the northern region of Malawi.

The research revealed that the communities of Embangweni, Jenda, Lundazi (Zambia), and Pusi have a significant number of small-scale women and youth farmers who grow sunflower, soybean, and groundnut seeds but lack access to proper markets for their agricultural produce. Additionally, the data indicated that these communities lacked information on sustainable agriculture, afforestation, reforestation, regenerative agriculture, climate change mitigation, adaptation, and building resilience during climate disasters.

The small-scale women and youth farmers also required entrepreneurship training and skills to help sustain their businesses.

Our enterprise serves as a solution to the agricultural market challenges, providing entrepreneurship training and acting as a climate change information center where small-scale women and youth farmers can fulfill their needs. We have established a quota agreement with 3,600 small-scale women and youth farmers, committing to be their offtaker for sunflower, soybean, and groundnut produce. Our cooking oil plant, located in the community, uses electricity to extract cooking oil from these seeds.

We have a team of experts who assist the communities in accessing information on sustainable agriculture, afforestation, reforestation, and regenerative practices. Furthermore, we have trained 25,000 women in Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania in entrepreneurship. We also link these trained farmers to financial resources that support their cultivation of sunflowers, soybeans, and groundnuts.

Additionally, our enterprise has a corporate social responsibility initiative focused on afforestation and reforestation. We are working with five civil society organizations on land restoration efforts in Malawi, primarily in the Mzimba district. Our goal is to restore 1,925 hectares (approximately 1,596,000 trees) by 2027, and we have successfully restored 1,010 hectares, planting 808,000 trees with a survival rate of 84%. We are also promoting afforestation by providing alternatives to charcoal operations, offering 100 liters of cooking oil on credit to charcoal business operators.

In addition to cooking oil, our enterprise produces other products such as laundry soap and animal feed.