Presented at the ECHO International Agriculture Conference 2015
Sambah Naturals has developed a co-operative of nearly 1,200 farmers in the Northwestern Province of Zambia. This network of missional businesses seeks to create profits to fund Zambian missionary efforts. Their organic and fair trade certificates have enabled the farmers to export high value products to developed countries and build a vertical, integrated supply chain. Along the way, they have helped to more than quadruple the incomes of their Zambian partner farmers, protect the sensitive Miombo forests, and create successful, value-added businesses. Andre will share the story of his 15 years collaboration with his Zambia partners, principles applied in building their projects, key failures, and lessons learned.
Presenter:
Andre Houssney was born in Beirut, Lebanon during that country’s civil war between Muslims and Christians. The son of a Lebanese pastor father and an American mother, Andre has been working on numerous agricultural and business projects in the US, Africa and the Middle East. His Fair Trade businesses, Sambah Naturals, Zambeezi and The Zambian Soap Company have created a co-op of 1,196 smallholder farmers and beekeepers in Zambia. Andre and his Thai-American wife, Vanee, live on their farm, Jacob Springs, in Colorado with their three boys. They employ intensive grazing to raise chicken, beef, lamb, and pork and milk a small herd of cows.