Matomoko Marketing Company

School: Mwakitawa Girl High School Region: Voi District, Taita Taveta County, Kenya Mwakitawa Girl High School is located in a rural area of the Voi district. The school is surrounded by bushes and mountains, having good connection to a nerby highway. The school has a good internet. From September 2015, occasional internet fall down will be addressed by allowing the students to work from Sote ICT Hub in Voi town. Company established: June 2014 Business Subject: Matomoko Marketing focus on production of juice and export of custard apples (matomoko in Swahili). Trying to bring value to their community, they buy the fruits from local farmers for fair prices. Departmets: Directorate, Financial Department, Marketing Department, Customer Relations, Human Resources, Production Department Number of members: 12 Matomoko Marketing is one of the youngest companies withing the project. The girls are still in the process of learning about business processes, work within departments, or communication with partners and customers. Although they still need to catch up with other companies in many aspects, they have progressed fast and won 3rd place for best company at the trade faire in April 2015 for bringing a new product onto the market. Very refreshing is their fair trade approach. Besides buying from local farmers, they also inform them about the actual market value of custard apples, which gives the farmers better negotiation position when they trade with middlemen. Thanks to the increased income, the farmers are able to employ more people to help them take care of the trees and the crop, which results in improvements in their communities. The company does not have real competitors in the region, but struggles with how to prepare a marketing startegy to attract customers or export abroad. Awards: 3nd place in the category Best Company at Sote ICT Trade Faire – April 2015

Areas of possible cooperation with the University of Huddersfield students: Preparation of a marketing strategy, business strategy, development of a business plan or a SWOT analysis, PR plan, CSR startegy

Custard apples

Matomoko Marketing after its establishment in June 2014 (the school used to be a mixed school then, now it is a girl school)