HTA-0563: AIMS — Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation (Four-Part Series)

A. Story Identification

B. Content Summary

This four-part documentary series chronicles the USDA-funded AIMS (Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation) program, implemented by Global Communities across Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya. Henry narrates all four parts, weaving together the stories of small and medium agricultural enterprises (SMEs) struggling to connect with markets, finance, and business expertise.

Part 1 (Overview) introduces the program's core challenge: sub-Saharan Africa's agricultural supply and demand are growing but not connecting. The film follows West Kilimanjaro Dairy in Tanzania, which had too much milk while Tunga Fresh, 400 km away, desperately needed more. AIMS organized Business-to-Business forums — "speed dating events" — that created profitable matches. The overview also introduces AIMS' three pillars: market linkages, business advisory services, and agricultural finance training.

Part 2 (Finance) tells the story through Moses, a Kenyan engineer-turned-pig-farmer whose herd was wiped out by swine flu, and Century Microfinance, which failed at agricultural lending until AIMS provided training. The film documents how AIMS developed the ECAF (Executive Certificate in Agricultural Finance) curriculum with the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, transforming lenders' understanding of agricultural risk. Moses rebuilds his farm, becomes a feed supplier, and Century goes national.

Part 3 (Linkages) returns to the Tanzania dairy sector and expands to Malawi, following entrepreneur Ngawaira Shatata of Tantri Farms, who grew high-value vegetables but couldn't find markets or financing until AIMS connected her to supermarkets, banks, and government. The film documents how hundreds of millions of dollars in agreements have linked SMEs across three countries.

Part 4 (BASP — Business Advisory Service Providers) focuses on Morris Mudwiri of Pearl Nut Farm in Kenya's Tarakaniti County, who returned to farming avocados and macadamia but lacked basic business records. AIMS connected him to consultant Jeremy Ragunya, demonstrating the BASP model where initial consulting fees are subsidized to jumpstart long-term business relationships. Morris now has 500 partner farmers and plans to build a processing factory.

C. Structured Metadata

D. Notable Quotes

"They are the grinders and the growers, the aggregators and the haulers, the buyers and the sellers. And the food security of sub-Saharan Africa depends on them."

"People with the right skills are there, the farm is there, the farmer is there. But the communication is broken. All the linkages to market are not there."

"If AIMS is closed tomorrow, they know where to get their market, they know where to get the consultant, they know the kind of requirements they require in the bank."

"Five years down the line, we want to set up a factory for crushing macadamia and avocado export. If that dream works, which I'm 100% sure it will work... just because Morris decided to be a farmer."

E. Source Assets

F. Production Notes

Signature Henry Moments — The opening narration of Part 1 ("They are the grinders and the growers...") is classic Henry: poetic, rhythmic, and elevating ordinary workers to heroic status. His voice carries the entire series without ever appearing on camera.

Beautiful Visual Moments — Descriptions suggest lush Tanzanian dairy country, Kenyan highlands with macadamia groves, Malawian sunflower fields, and vibrant market scenes.

G. Cross-References

H. Source Provenance

I. Archival Notes

The AIMS series represents Henry's mature documentary voice — narrating complex international development stories with clarity, warmth, and narrative sophistication. Unlike his broadcast career where he appeared on camera, here Henry functions as an invisible storyteller, giving voice to African entrepreneurs and development workers. The four-part structure suggests this was a significant production, likely used for USDA reporting, donor communications, and program promotion. The series demonstrates Henry's ability to make agricultural economics compelling through human stories — the same skill that made his PM Magazine features memorable, now applied to a global stage. The AIMS program (2012–2017) was a $27 million USDA initiative; Henry's involvement likely came through his Global Communities relationship documented in HACD-0143.

I. Video Review (V2 Upgrade)

Visual Description

The AIMS series is a polished institutional documentary with high production values. Part 2 (Finance) opens with aerial drone footage over agricultural landscapes, then moves to ground-level footage of Moses Mariga Kanyotu's pig farm (Markan Farms), the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, and Century Microfinance Bank offices. Part 4 (BASP) features Pearl Nut Farm's macadamia orchards, B2B forum conference rooms, and consultant meetings. Both parts use consistent branding: animated text overlays spelling out "AIMS: Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation" over aerial field shots, yellow text overlays for key terms ("SME," "Small & Medium Enterprises"), clean lower-third graphics for interviewees, and closing logos for USDA and Global Communities. The cinematography employs steady interview compositions, dynamic aerial drone footage for scale, and relevant b-roll that directly illustrates the narration.

Story Structure (Timestamped)

Part 2 — Finance:

Part 4 — BASP:

Henry's Participation

Henry narrates all four parts entirely in voiceover — he never appears on camera. His narration is professional, clear, and authoritative, weaving together interview segments with explanatory context. He elevates ordinary agricultural workers to heroic status through poetic language ("They are the grinders and the growers, the aggregators and the haulers"). The narration carries the entire series, providing continuity across diverse locations and subjects.

Signature Moments

The opening narration of Part 1 ("They are the grinders and the growers...") is classic Henry: rhythmic, poetic, and elevating ordinary workers. In Part 4, his narration builds Morris's story from frustrated farmer to visionary entrepreneur planning a processing factory — the same narrative arc-building skill that made his broadcast features memorable. The series demonstrates Henry's ability to make complex agricultural economics compelling through individual human stories.

Production Credits (confirmed from video)

- Produced for: USDA and Global Communities

- Narrator: Henry Tenenbaum

- Video production: Henry Tenenbaum (confirmed via credits and production style consistency with other Global Communities work)

Transcript

Part 1: Overview

[00:02] They are the grinders and the growers, the aggregators and the haulers, the buyers and the sellers. And the food security of sub-Saharan Africa depends on them. They are the small and medium enterprises in agriculture, known as SMEs. They are a vital but a tenuous link, connecting the scattered farms to the booming cities. People with the right skills are there, the farm is there, the farmer is there, but the communication is broken. All the linkages to market are not there. So the USDA is funding a program to help SMEs develop essential links for growth. A five-year program in Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya implemented by Global Communities with partner the Eastern Africa Grain Council. Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation. Stimulating market, what we mean here is working on the issues or the challenges that are hindering market. Challenges like financing, business skills, and in this case, linkages to markets.

[01:02] Here is the West Kilimanjaro dairy. In this area, you have lots of milk. Lots of milk. This mom-and-pop dairy in northern Tanzania is an SME that aggregates milk from over 2,000 local farmers. We were not able to sell all the milk we would collect, and that had to discourage the farmers from continuing the dairy production. Their problems seemed to be too much milk, but it was really too little market information, because 400 kilometers away... We had a severe shortage of milk supply during that time. Tanzania's largest dairy processor, Tunga Fresh, was desperate to buy more milk.

[01:44] That lack of basic market information is one of the major obstacles that AIMS is addressing. We organize what we call business-to-business forums. We bring them in one room, the buyers and the sellers. These B2B forums are a sort of speed dating event where the stakeholders can discover new profitable matches. At this B2B, 12 agreements were concluded, including a deal for Tunga Fresh to buy West Kilimanjaro's milk. As part of the deal, Tunga Fresh facilitated farmer training to upgrade their feed and sanitary practices. And they provided West Kilimanjaro with a cooling tank to keep excess milk fresh between pickups. Now I can sell milk in the Tunga Fresh. Now all the milk can be collected together and being sold to the direct market.

[02:34] Across Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, these AIMS B2Bs have created matches, linkages, partnerships. And to help SMEs upgrade their businesses, AIMS also facilitates trainings, forums, and market information systems. So we link them with all these people who have everything they require: agronomists, producers, the Ministry of Agriculture, the financial institutions. Access to financial institutions and credit is one of the SME's biggest challenges. We want to facilitate access to finance. And most of them, they're not even eligible for the finances because their books of account are not there, they are not in order. So that is where the consultant comes in.

[03:14] Consultants like Jeremy Ragunya of Prolific Business Consultants. He's been pre-qualified by AIMS as a business advisory service provider to help make small agribusinesses more businesslike. You walk in and you find that there is no system whatsoever. When we sat down, we have to look at how much I've been losing. Without proper records or registration, Mars Madwiri of Pearl Nut Farms can't even get a water permit for irrigation, much less a bank loan. They can help them organize their books, be able to keep records, to have their financial projections. And AIMS makes it easier and cheaper for the SMEs to discover the value of consultants by subsidizing their initial fees to help jumpstart long-term partnerships.

[04:07] But the problem isn't just the borrowers. The banks didn't want to deal with us. Malawi's Kamwendo Cooking Oil Cooperative is a profitable venture. It is owned by 40 sunflower farmers, and they need credit to operate their factory. But they were being rejected by lenders like Malawi's Export Development Fund. We had never dealt with sunflower before, so we were very scared. The financial institutions look at agriculture or agribusiness as a risky area. But that is changing. EDF was among 30 lenders that participated in an agriculture finance training curriculum that was developed by AIMS in cooperation with the Kenya School of Monetary Studies. It helps lenders evaluate and mitigate risks in lending to agriculture. And it's working.

[05:15] There are similar stories across all three countries. Participating lenders have seen increased borrowing, lower default rates and faster loan reviews. It reflects the AIMS market approach. You offer linkages, you remove obstacles to money, to markets, to experts. If those links are profitable, they will be sustainable. It is all about ensuring that people get the right information. If AIMS is closed tomorrow, they know where to get their market, they know where to get the consultant, they know the kind of requirements they require in the bank. So all these opportunities are there and the kind of help and facilitation that we are giving to them is priceless.

Part 2: Finance

[00:00] This is the story of some pigs, a bank, a businessman, and a program called AIMS that brought them together. I bought the farm. I bought this piece of land. And he called it Markan Farms in Gitanga, Kenya. Moses is an engineer by training, but he believed there was money to be made in agriculture. He just wasn't sure how. I wanted to do cows. But when I went to look for the cows, I bought pigs. So I started keeping pigs. My population of pigs grew up to about 500. Then swine flu hit me and wiped the whole farm.

[00:41] Meanwhile, in Nairobi, pig problems were plaguing the back office at Century Microfinance. Century Microfinance as a business had decided that they want to go and support this pig value chain. So we go in, we don't know much about pig farming apart from what we assumed we know about pig farming. By the time we met them, the pilot was not very successful. My people, the credit officers, didn't understand how to appraise loans under the pig value chain. A pig takes between six and eight months to mature, and our loans are usually paid monthly. So the farmer is discouraged with going on with the venture. My loans end up not being paid.

[01:22] They had not focused on the market. They had to ensure that at least there is a linkage between the agribusiness SMEs and also the market. Agribusiness SMEs, the small and medium enterprises, the processors, the aggregators, the commercial farms, they are the missing link between producers and markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The market is there. People with the right skills are there. The farm is there. The farmer is there. But the communication is broken, or the linkages are not there.

[01:53] So the USDA has funded a five-year program implemented by Global Communities called AIMS, Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation. In Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania, Global Communities teams are addressing the challenges that hinder SME markets and profits. They are upgrading SME's business capacity by connecting them to vetted consultants. They're developing links to new markets, new skills, and new partners through an ambitious program of forums, trade fairs, and business-to-business conferences. And in this case, they are overcoming one of the biggest challenges for SMEs: finding lenders.

[02:33] The bankers didn't trust much SMEs who were working in the agricultural sector. So the program started with the capacity building to the financial institutions. AIMS developed a curriculum with the Kenya School of Monetary Studies. This curriculum is called ECAF, Executive Certificate in Agricultural Finance. The ECAF training that I received through Global Communities helped me understand how to structure a loan to fit the needs of the client. We've even had to hire vets as our credit officers because they understand some of these things better than us.

[03:12] One key lesson: successful lending is a partnership. SMEs need to learn responsible business practices and banks need to learn agriculture. How to help SMEs to find reliable markets, quality input suppliers, necessary extension and veterinary services. We had to go through a lot of training, how to work with our farmers, how to sensitize our farmers, how to support our farmers. And how to find those farmers. With AIMS' support, Century took to the road, holding education and promotion conferences, connecting with stakeholders, and promoting their new loan products for SMEs.

[03:53] SMEs like Moses, who has restarted that pig farm with the last of his money, but now cannot find quality feed for his animals. My population of 500 has now come back. But the feeds were not growing at all. So here I am. I have animals. I don't have money to feed them. So essentially we're having a conference somewhere with farmers. And that is where Moses met Century's business development manager Hiram Kamau and a mutually profitable friendship was born, along with a healthy line of credit. We saw there's a gap. The gap is the feeds. So Moses is now grinding his own feed on his own mill. And with Century's financial and technical support, he hopes to become a profitable feed supplier for a growing group of local smallholder farmers like Margaret Warire, who, by the way, got her pig farm started with a loan from Century Microfinance.

[04:52] When I started with the two pigs, from there, my mind grows older. The growing herd reflects Century's effort to go beyond the SMEs to reach the financially underserved small farmers as well, especially the one half that are women. Currently, we really have low numbers in terms of the women who have been able to access finance. The collateral is in the name of their husbands, their fathers. At conferences like this one in Nairobi, AIMS is providing technical support to help lenders address this gender imbalance. And with examples like Century, lenders are discovering that agriculture loans in these sectors can boost the economy and the bank's bottom line.

[05:34] The minister of agriculture for Moranga County came to us and said, "I think this project is really working well in Ngatanga. Why don't we duplicate the same system across the whole county?" And I believe once we do that, then we can also roll it out nationally. So Century is looking to go national. Moses is pitching the bank on his next big plans to become a pig breeder for local farmers. We can have a model farm, a breeding facility. And Margaret could end up being Moses' best customer. She paid off her $3,000 loan and sold 50 pigs last year. The one I come to 200 pigs, that is when my dreams come true. From lenders to SMEs to smallholders, AIMS Credit Initiative is helping develop a sustainable financial framework for agribusiness growth and profits.

Part 3: Linkages

[00:03] Early morning, northern Tanzania. Hundreds of farmers are collecting milk and sending it off to their local dairies for processing and distribution. Here is the West Kilimanjaro dairy. It's a small industry, but it comes to be big. Yes, there are new possibilities for West Kilimanjaro dairy now that this mom-and-pop operation has overcome a long-standing problem: they had too much milk.

[00:35] We are not able to sell all the milk we collect, so the farmers were losing the morale of engaging into the dairy sector. It's a familiar story in sub-Saharan Africa and in much of the developing world, where agriculture's supply is increasing, demand is increasing, but they're not connecting. When there is excess milk, it's poured. When there is a lot of cabbage that is produced, it's actually given to cattle. When there are so many tomatoes, it's actually thrown out. So there was a serious problem with access to markets.

[01:07] At the beginning, when we started the program, we realized that there were some gaps between the buyers and the sellers. So AIMS came to be able to bridge the market gap. AIMS stands for Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation, funded by USDA, implemented by Global Communities in Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi. The focus is on strengthening the weak link in the value chain that connects the small producers with markets. They're called agriculture SMEs, small and medium enterprises.

[02:05] For example, the AIMS teams accumulated market data. In the case of Tanzania's dairy sector, they made a surprising discovery about the country's largest dairy distributor, Tunga Fresh. We realized that Tunga Fresh did not have sufficient milk. Because we are here in Tunga, we didn't know if there is some excess milk from somewhere. But AIMS knew where to find more milk, 400 kilometers away at West Kilimanjaro Dairy. We thought we need to link these two together. And we've been doing that through one of the AIMS approaches, market linkages. We organized what we call business to business forums. We brought together more than 30 SMEs who had similar challenges. We bring them in one room, the buyers and the sellers, for them to be able to have structured agreements.

[02:57] There was a very good match between Tunga Fresh and West Kilimanjaro. It was one of 12 agreements reached at that B2B. AIMS helped facilitate the deals, which required that sellers like West Kilimanjaro meet quality and health standards. But under the AIMS model, it is the buyer, like Tunga Fresh, not outside donors, that do the investing in farmer training and necessary equipment, like this large storage cooling tank. But now I can collect 2,000 milky per day because I have a cooling tank.

[03:39] And the AIMS model also provides resources for fledgling and less developed SMEs through mini-trade fairs, where they can connect with sector buyers and stakeholders to improve their capacity to develop trust and to learn how to meet market needs and make themselves more appealing to potential buyers. Across Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, hundreds of millions of dollars in agreements have linked SMEs with new suppliers, new markets, new resources.

[04:11] In Swahili we have a saying, learning comes through three things: seeing, hearing, and getting what you have heard into our ships. So we link them with all these people who have everything they require. These could be research institutions, it could be policy-making institutions. So as an entrepreneur, my job is to find information.

[04:36] My name is Ngawaira Shatata, I'm managing director and co-founder of Tantri Farms. I ended up farming because Malawi was importing high-value vegetables, so I thought I should try it and be the solution so that I can show others that we can grow our own food. Everyone said the growing of vegetables using high technology is a high risk, it's high investment. I grew a lot of lettuce and then I couldn't find the market for it. None of the banks wanted to lend me.

[05:08] But when AIMS came to Malawi, she found new resources, new linkages, new solutions. Global Communities facilitates the creation of platforms where we are able to interact with the supermarkets, we are able to interact with the banks, we are able to interact with the government. Because as business people we are very busy on the ground. We can't get these people so easily. Shatata is developing those reliable markets for her new crops. She's connecting with experts. She's helping local smallholders to grow and supplement her crops. She's forming a cooperative of SMEs to increase their leverage over markets and policies and regulations. And she is demonstrating how AIMS is influencing agribusiness by creating sustainable institutions for trade and inspiring a new generation of SMEs.

Part 4: BASP (Business Advisory Service Providers)

[00:01] Farming, we go way back. Yes, I went through the college, but still I could not depart from my farming passion. Morris Mudwiri grew up on a farm in Kenya, and he represents a growing generation of agribusiness entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa who are transforming their families' historic farming tradition to develop modern agribusinesses. We have macadamia here, which is Moranga 20, and we have avocado, which is Hass avocado.

[00:34] For Morris, that meant returning to Kenya's Tarakaniti County, where he grew up. But now he's focusing on high-profit, non-traditional crops. I started buying land slowly by slowly. I researched a lot. I had the idea of avocado and macadamia starting really entering my heart. But as he planted seedlings at his Pearl Nut Farm, Mars discovered what many entrepreneurs have learned: there's a big gap between agriculture and agribusiness.

[01:01] For example: One of the things that made me buy this land was because of the permanent river. I can pump water from this river to supply to the farm. Of course I need permission, I need to apply for licenses from the county government. And Mars discovered you can't get a license until you register your business. And you can't register your business without books and records and tax receipts. I was not keeping any records. I was losing a lot of money, spending a lot of money. There was a lot of stealing, wastage.

[01:32] That's a huge challenge that many businesses actually go through. They could not be able to see where their profitability is, how are their books like. They don't have proper records. Stephen is a member of a Global Communities team in sub-Saharan Africa that's addressing the challenges for the little guys in agribusiness. They're called SMEs, Small and Medium Enterprises. From processors, haulers, and aggregators to resellers and commercial farmers like Morris, SMEs represent a vital link connecting sub-Saharan Africa's growing cities to healthy, affordable food.

[02:07] The USDA-funded program, operating in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania, is called AIMS, Agribusiness Investment for Market Stimulation. AIMS has been working with local partners and institutions to improve financing, develop market linkages, address weak infrastructure and onerous regulations. But AIMS discovered that first, those small agribusinesses needed to become more businesslike. We want to facilitate linkage to markets and access to finance. And most of them, they're not even eligible for the finances because their books of account are not there, they are not in order. So that is where the consultant comes in.

[02:54] Business consultants like Jeremy Ragunya, they're an essential component in the AIMS program. Called Business Advisory Service Providers or BASPs, AIMS located them, they pre-qualified them and connected them to SMEs like Morris Mudwiri. You walk in and you find that there is no system whatsoever of managing finances. When we sat down we had to look at how much I've been losing. You asked me questions like can I just give me some records. I thought I don't have. They do not know how much they are making. They do a thorough need analysis. They identify various gap levels. There are also consultants to work with SMEs on marketing or business planning.

[03:35] AIMS facilitates these connections, but unlike many other programs, AIMS only subsidizes the introductory consulting fee. After that, the businesses need to see enough value to pay the consultants themselves. What has happened for us, the agribusiness will find value and now be willing to continue paying. So it is sort of a strategic matchmaking. It's been a good match for Morris and Pearl Nut Farm. Right now, Pearl Nuts are consolidating those finances to be able to buy more land, to be able to grow more macadamia and more avocados.

[04:09] Morris sees Pearl Nuts Farms as a legacy for his children, but he's also providing trees for his neighbors. He's creating partnerships. He's hoping to demonstrate how SMEs can promote prosperity. I have 500 farmers also, who each one of them has five trees. Five years down the line, we want to set up a factory for crushing macadamia and avocado export. If that dream works, which I'm 100% sure it will work, it will be must. You'll go to come and find development taking place. Why? Just because of Morris decided to be a farmer.