Belfast man hooked on running his fish farm in 'extreme' Zimbabwe

WILD GEESE:Gerry McCollum, Founder, Lake Harvest

AFTER 20 years working in some of Africa’s more difficult environments, Gerry McCollum believes that a strong sense of adventure and a penchant for hard work are crucial components in most foreign-owned business success stories across the continent.

The Belfast native knows more than most about developing a business under difficult circumstances, given establishing his aquaculture enterprise in the northwest of Zimbabwe has coincided with the turbulent events there since 2000.

Despite the southern African country’s well-documented political and economic difficulties, McCollum and his partners at Lake Harvest have turned their Lake Kariba-based fish-farming operation into the largest aquaculture business in Africa over the last 14 years.

“Zimbabwe is an extreme place to live. When it’s good it is a very, very enjoyable place to be. I just spent a weekend on Lake Kariba fishing with my family and it has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

“But at times it can be pretty awful and stressful. You would never leave Ireland and come here looking for a safe stable nine-to-five existence.

“Before the transitional government came into existence in 2008, it was really tough. There were many days I was waiting for the 2am knock on the door from people you did not want to encounter; we [his wife Susan and two daughters] came close to packing our bags on a number of occasions around that time,” he said.

The 40-year-old University of Edinburgh graduate first came to Africa in 1995 with the British overseas development organisation Commonwealth Development Co-operation (CDC), which offered him a post in Uganda working as an engineer.

“I had had a little development experience following a trip to India while at university. In 1995, after working at home for a while, I got a letter from CDC offering me a post in Uganda that involved reviving an old tea estate. I was sitting in the traffic in the rain when I decided to drop the job here and go,” he recalled.

After his time in Uganda, McCollum had planned to return to Ireland, but in 1997 the development world intervened again and he got a job at CDC’s aqua-culture pilot project on Lake Kariba, where he became responsible for factory operations after a year.

Shortly afterwards, the organisation decided to disinvest from the project and McCollum and some work colleagues made the decision to undertake a management buy-out of the pilot scheme.

“We all saw the potential in the project because aquaculture is so underdeveloped in Africa. We farm a fish called tilapia (or bream) and at this stage we produce 6,000 tonnes of fish each year for the European and southern Africa markets and employ about 550 people.

“We are growing well at the moment, and recently secured a new investor to support our expansion. We’ve built our own [fish] feed plant at Kariba and also established a new operation on Lake Victoria in Uganda in 2005.

“We ensure the high quality of our fish through a combination of sustainable farming techniques and state of the art equipment, and ensure complete control of the process from feed ingredients and breeding through to delivery of the fillet,” said McCollum, who is now Harvest Lake’s technical director.

When assessing the dynamics of setting up a business in Africa, McCollum believes a key component of being a successful is the ability to turn one’s hand to a variety of different tasks, as accessing high quality service providers can prove to be a difficult undertaking.

“For us there was a huge problem in finding people who were good enough to distribute our product in the manner and time we needed it done, so we ended up taking on that task ourselves.

“Skilled people can be in short supply in the developing world, so a broad base of skills will definitely stand to entrepreneurs thinking of coming to Africa,” he commented.

However, he says business people in Africa are easier to get along with than in the developed world, partially because they operate on higher margins so the cut-throat mentality that pervades the so-called first world is not as prevalent.

“I feel people in Africa are more interested in personal relationships, so if you are loyal here you get it back 10-fold, which is a quality I value,” he explained.

For the Irishman or woman thinking of seeking out opportunities in Africa, McCollum believes a sound first step would be to get a position in an overseas development agency so that they can have a little security while getting a feel for their new environment.

“Most people I’ve met have come over as volunteers or employees with non-government organisations involved in development. Once here for a while, they move on when opportunities arise. The NGO looks after you and sorts out visa requirements, which takes out a lot of hassle.

“It also gives the person time to decide whether they like African life. I think people should look for opportunities in their skill sector. Professionals are always sought after but so are people with trades in construction – they have a lot to offer,” he said.