A Ziweto Enterprises agrovet store
Malawi-based Ziweto Enterprises is one of the top performing companies in the portfolio of Africa Eats, an investment holding company dedicated to Africa’s food and agriculture value chain.
Ziweto is a supplier of agrovet products, a manufacturer of animal feed, and a future producer of day-old chicks and chicken in Malawi. Luni Libes, founder and CEO of Africa Eats, recalls first meeting the company in 2016 when it operated just three small agrovet shops – described as pharmacies for animals – serving small-scale farmers in rural areas. At the time, each shop earned only about $10,000 per year.
In 2017, the distributor supplying 80% of Ziweto’s products came up for sale, and the company raised the necessary funds to acquire the distributor.
By 2019, Ziweto had become the largest supplier of agrovet products in Malawi, providing vaccines, medicines, and other veterinary supplies to independent agrovet shops while also running 10 of its own stores. In 2022, the company expanded further by building an animal feed factory and reported revenues exceeding $1.3 million in 2023.
In December 2024, Ziweto listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.
Responding to customer demand, Ziweto began constructing a hatchery for day-old chicks. Libes explains that Ziweto plans to use the proceeds from its public listing to build out the hatchery, expand its animal feed production, and begin operations in neighbouring countries.
“What we expect from this company in a year or two is that those farmers are going to say, great, these day-old chicks you’re selling to us with the feed you’re selling to us and the medicines you’re selling, now we need someone to buy the actual chickens and bring them to market,” he says, adding that he expects Ziweto to diversify into poultry production.
Watch our full in-depth interview with Africa Eats CEO Luni Libes: Investing in African agribusiness, Warren Buffett style
