LIVEBIRDS ON TRACK!!

 

Livebirds, a brandname for our poultry supplying business , has moved from Broiler rearing to supplying Day Old Chicks suppliers. The recent move was "on trial" with the business supplying an average of 300chicks per week to local suppliers, the business is viable and profitable especially if we manage to  supply an average of 800 chicks per week. March and April have been mainly dedicated to securing the customers and it seems a breakthrough came two weeks ago when we got orders to supply 850 chicks.

Our joy was kept on check by our supplier who let us down and could not supply the 850chickens that we needed! The following week(last Friday the 3rd) we were waiting for a supply of 2400 chickens(yes , we had secured customers who needed 2400 day-old chicks!), CHINYIKA(our suppliers) only supplied 500 chickens instead of 2400! This  Friday we have an order for 2,000 chickens and we are still getting more orders.  The supplier enjoys great monopoly since the other two suppliers are not as good, and one of the other two is overloaded with orders and even more unreliable.

Meanwhile plans are also under way to recruit more orphaned young adults into the business,  they will be paid on commission.

We are making frantic efforts to get the other suppliers who can supply us with the day-old chicks.

 Meanwhile the Taxi Business, an arm of the Livebirds Poultry, is turning a steady profit and there are serious plans to buy another second taxi, we intend to employ another driver, we agreed that the driver should be an orphaned adult, it is a great opportunity for him/her to earn a living and to own a taxi at the end of the year.

We will make it, just wait and see! Keep watching this blog, we will upload photos almost weekly


It would not be enough if we end this quick update without mentioning our congratulations to Mr Stevan Talevski who tied the note with Miss Garman Jill. Stevan and Jill tied the note on the 28th of April 2013 and we thank the Lord that these two, who have been instrumental in the formation of Livebirds and have been supporting Livebirds Zimbabwe with business ideas from the onset, have tied the note, Livebirds Zimbabwe team have managed to send a Congratulations Card to the pair.

 

Prayer Requests;

**Pray that we get a consistent and reliable supplier of day old chicks from our suppliers

**Commitment on the Livebirds members ie Bob, Gladys and Floridah

**We are employing more orphans and vulnerable children(young adults) who are unemployed to be the salespeople for the business, pray that we help more people and be able to have competent youth.

We thank God for the W242 and for the passion they have to make this business venture a success, we wish the world was full of people like them.




livebirdsprogress

The Latest on LiveBirds

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. –1 Corinthians 15:36

Its Easter weekend  around the world and we are reminded of the truth that life is born out of death.  It’s a living metaphor all around us.  A seedling lies dormant in the ground in order to grow into a plant.  A caterpillar undergoes a period of dark, yet fertile growth to emerge as a butterfly.  And sometimes are hearts have to let go of long entrenched ideas we hold tightly to in order for a greater, more beautiful story to arise and unfold. 

LiveBirds has struggled since their infancy to turn a profit on growing and selling chickens.  While their perseverance and dedication to the business is inspiring, even in the throes of typical new business obstacles, the hope of profit margins never actualized. 

Instead, a new strategy has been born out of the old.  LiveBirds started their first quarter of 2013 with a new, evolving business model. The Zimbabwe team is reducing the risk of chicken farming that requires major investments in inventory, disease vulnerability, and long eight week growing cycles of chicks by transforming their farming business into a ‘peeps,’ or ‘day-old chicks’ distribution business allowing access to impoverished rural areas to grow their own chickens for sustenance and dignity. We never cease to be amazed at the tenacity and artistry of our God in unfolding His story. 

 

LiveBirds changed their strategy by focusing their target market on rural areas that traditionally have little access to buying peeps by selling to these communities 'day old chicks' rather than mature butchered chickens. The rural areas do not have access to birds they can raise on their own unless they travel to bigger cities like Mutare, LiveBirds headquarters, which for some lies some four hundred miles away. LiveBirds is meeting this demand by supplying day old chicks to consumers and farmers. They strategically use the taxi once per week to travel to the rural communities, take orders, and offer cash advances to loyal customers. The following week the team returns with the orders of peeps and receive the remaining balance owed for a profit. Currently, they are up to 500 birds sold per week!  While we remain excited about the possibilities, this venture will remain in trial mode as we chart the viability of the business long term. Please pray for this new venture, and that we will remain open, while willingly listening to God’s plans.

Simultaneously, the LiveBirds Taxi Service continues to turn a steady profit!! As a result, the team is now preparing to purchase a second taxi with the profit from the first within three to six months of time.  Please continue to pray for this venture as well, for continued profit margins, to allow for an expanded Taxi Service and a crucial new employment opportunity for a fellow Zimbabwean. 

 
Finally, back at home in Charlotte the team is also in a period of new life. We are excitedly looking to expand our reach to other countries, while replicating the basic tenets of our business model. Recently our team met with local business leaders, a local University Professor and International Economics Students that have interest in supporting this endeavor. We also met with the Director of Hope for AIDS, Marcus Baeder, and pitched the idea to expand into 12 other countries where they have a presence. There is great enthusiasm on all sides as we are in the process of exploring the next LiveBirds venture. We ask for your prayers as we seek to follow God’s lead in this expansion as well. 

May you be blessed this Easter weekend with new life, and know that Jesus is alive in our increasingly connected world bringing about unfathomable ways we can come to know Him and His dearly beloved people across the globe, while growing our own hearts in the process.

The photographer caught Mr Bob Mwapinda selling the Livebirds chickens to customers, Mrs B Mtisi is a loyal customer of Livebirds and has just bought 5 chickens for a total of 30us.

Livebirds Zimbabwe

OCTOBER LIVEBIRDS UPDATES, prayer requests

OCTOBER LIVEBIRDS UPDATES.

The Livebirds team members managed to slaughter half the chickens that were at the farm with the remainder being slaughtered after a week.Bob, Gladys and Tonderai went to the farm with Donald Mashinge , the new driver, and spent the day slaughtering the chickens. 98 chickens were ready for slaughter, some were sold alive(we are LiveBirds after all) and the rest(77)were slaughtered. Most customers had already been sourced for the chickens and today is distribution day, where all the chickens are being supplied to customers. We thank the Lord for the taxi which is a great help to the poultry business.

Just as things were taking shape a month ago and we were busy closing the gap(a statement coined to mean having a weekly supply of chickens) we encountered a challenge, we got a call from the farm owner notifying us that he was venturing into mining and wanted to use the facilities that we were using . He had already contracted the Chinese miners who flooded the place within a week, the chickens were hurriedly moved to another place on the farm where they are being kept, we thank him a lot for allowing us to use the farm all these months..We are currently scouting around for a place to keep the chickens, we have gone to two places where we inspected to see whether we can move there.

We have not been buying chicks within the last 3 or so weeks since we are trying to find another place to keep the chickens. We are hopeful that we will get the place, should. We have 97 chickens left at the farm that are being kept by Tonderai, a very strong willed and hardworking member.

Please pray for Livebirds especially in view of this challenge facing us.

Misheck

Livebirds Team Leader, Zimbabwe

new batch AGAIN

We have managed to buy another batch of 100chicken that we delivered last Friday, the 14th of September.
Bob Mwapinda(a Livebirds member) and Joseph Musiya(Livebirds Driver) delivered the chickens.

The chickens came amid a time when we were still low about the chickens that had been stolen at the farm. We intend to deliver at least a hundred chickens per week(or every fortnight-should we face any challenge). Challenges are normally from the suppliers that sometimes fail to deliver the chickens on schedule.

We are currently selling the chickens that we slaughtered within the past fortnight and have a target of selling them all by the 30th of September, we shall give feedback on whether we have attained that goal or not.

Photo shows the chickens that were delivered last Friday at the farm.
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LIVEBIRDS TEAM Zimbabwe

Theft at the farm

It is with a heavy heart that we report of a theft that took place on Friday the 14th of September when 28 chickens were missing. The thieves broke through the planks that had been nailed neatly to close a door, permanently. The entrance was nolonger used and this is the entrance that the thieves used to break through.

We lost twenty eight(28) chickens. The chickens were almost ready for market , the photo attached shows the entrance that they used when it was still under construction in July. Hardlife Moyana , who was at the farm, is very demotivated at the theft. He feared that we may be strict on him and make him pay, something which he is incapable of doing. We met as team and decided to write off the theft(after reporting to the police, who are 26kms away).

We have moved the chickens to another room which is safer and under lock and key.
Pray for the success of the business, and the security as well as that we get customers for all our chickens when we slaughter them, we are targeting to sell all our chickens that we slaughtered recently by the end of the month(Sept).

Livebirds Team, Zimbabwe

yet another batch slaughtered!!

On Friday the 7th we managed to slaughter a 100 more chickens, we will slaughter another 80 next week.
We thank God for the healthy chickens, they are pretty big and our customers are very happy at the size.

We failed to buy a 100 more last Friday but this week we shall deliver about 100 chickens, as well as next week so that we have a constant supply again next month. The team members slaughtered 171 chickens a week and half ago, they still have a few left in the freezer and we added the 100 that we slaughtered last Friday. We hope we will sell all the chickens within this month, including the 80 that we will slaughter next week

Good day
LIVEBIRDS Zimbabwe Team