The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
LOCAL enterprise Agrostrong has introduced a cattle-backed savings and insurance facility for investors in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The firm, which is also pushing for a culture of savings and alternative investment products for Zimbabweans locally and abroad, aims to commercialise cattle to preserve and grow value for investors.
In Zimbabwe, most pensioners and policyholders lost their savings during the currency changeover from the Zimbabwe dollar to the multicurrency system as a result of hyperinflation.
“The solution lay in finding an asset that would be able to withstand the vagaries of the environment and possibly appreciate in value,” said Agrostrong CEO Mr Bhekithemba Nkomo.
“This led the founders to the age-old investment that our forefathers have always had – cattle. This has always been an asset class that our great-grandparents treasured and used to store value at all times.
“With passion for technology and the recently identified cattle asset class, it then became easy for Agrostrong to birth these solutions to commercialise cattle and use them to preserve and grow value for investors.”
For cattle-backed savings, clients invest money as a lump sum or in agreed periodic amounts.
The money raised is used to procure steers for fattening in state-of-the-art pens.
Mr Nkomo revealed the fattening process happens over a period of 90 days using high-quality feed manufactured onsite, after which the steers will be sold to an abattoir.
After the sale, clients have a choice to withdraw their funds or re-invest.
“The minimum investment period is 90 days. After this period, the investor can either withdraw fully, that is capital and interest, or a portion of the invested amount.”
Any funds remaining after withdrawal are re-invested for another 90-day cycle.
The investments attract a minimum guaranteed return of 4 percent per 90-day cycle, which translates to 16 percent per year in US dollars.
For local investments, deposits will be held locally, while those in South Africa will be held in that country.
Agrostrong will use a debit-order system for South African investments, while bank transfers will be used locally.
