Build cold storages to provide food for millions of people in Afghanistan and earn great money!

Imagine the current crazy situation: Afghan farmers sell the fruits & vegetable at a low price at harvest time. As there are hardly any cold storages presently in Afghanistan, the fruits & vegetables are shipped to Pakistan to avoid spoiling. Pakistan then puts those fruits & vegetables into their cold storages. Then Pakistan sells the same fruits & vegetables back to Afghanistan, where the local Afghan people must pay up to seven times the price of what the Afghan farmers got for the same fruits & vegetables a few months before. This does not even account for all the fruits & vegetables that get destroyed while transporting those across hundreds of miles and waiting at border check points for days (and weeks).

Business case for Afghan entrepreneurs and investors: Build cold storage facilities and enjoy an annual return on investment of up seven hundred (!!!) percent.

There are few business opportunities around the world where you can earn such high profit on such a straightforward, low risk and easy-to-understand business model: 1) Build a low-cost storage facility. 2) Buy the fruits & vegetables at low harvest rate 3) Store the fruits & vegetables for a few months. 4) Sell the same fruits & vegetables at high winter market prices and earn a tremendous profit.

Could it be easier?! So, why are you as Afghan not doing it?!

Guide to build a cold storage facility

1)???? Get the design and explanation for cold storage facilities for free from the Internet.

2)???? Understand that it is easy to build cold storage facilities:

a.????? Erect a simple structure with isolated walls and ceiling.

b.????? Install a basic monitoring system to control temperature, humidity, etc.

c.????? Provide (fairly) uninterrupted power supply.

3)???? Get land

4)???? Contract construction company to erect the above

5)???? Contract a vendor to install the system

6)???? Assign people to administrate the facility.

Guide to finance the cold storage business:

Alternative A: Finance entire project with your own resources.

·?????? If so, you could start by erecting just one cold storage facility in the first year.

·?????? Set up everything for operations.

·?????? Buy fruits & vegetables, store and sell them (as explained above).

·?????? Leverage the revenue generated to build more storage facilities.

·?????? Example: First Year implement one cold storage. Second Year implement 2 cold storages. Third Year implement 4 cold storages. Continue increase the number of cold storages

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Alternative B: Collaborate with local people who contribute individual payments to cover all project costs. (recommended)

·?????? There is absolutely no need for the entrepreneur to finance the project with his own money!

·?????? Identify and involve local people who all contribute one-time payments to buy the land and build the cold storage. Given the very short pay-back cycle investors can see high return on their investments within less than six (!) months. It is a very solid and compelling investment opportunity!

·?????? (Note: If an entrepreneur cannot sell such a convincing business project, he should not consider doing business at all!)

·?????? Offer different payment models to people that contribute money, land, or other infrastructure: 1) Pay an agreed amount every year or 2) give people an ownership-share in this cold storage facility

·?????? Leverage the power of collaboration. Raise most financing for more cold storages through more local investors

·?????? Scale fast: First Year implement 1 cold storage. Second Year implement 3 cold storages. Third year implement 10 cold storages. Fourth year implement 30 cold storages. Fifth Year implement 100 cold storages. Sith Year implement 300 cold storages. Seventh Year implement 1000 cold storages.

More specific guidance on financing

·?????? Collaborate with all stakeholders. Involve all types of people to finance upfront capital and run costs.

·?????? Finance all/ most upfront investment by raising capital through sharing ownership and deferring costs

·?????? Avoid the costs. Minimize the costs. Share the costs!

·?????? Focus on positive cash flow always. (It minimizes the necessary capital to build and run the cold storage business)

·?????? Get the land for free use from the community. Use fruits & vegetables as annual lease payments. Or give the community an ownership-share in the particular cold storage.

·?????? Give construction company a share in the company to avoid construction payment. Or defer part of the payments by paying later when the fruits & vegetables are sold at winter prices. Offer extra bonuses to get consent.

·?????? Pay the farmers in installments to avoid/ defer upfront payments for fruits and vegetables. Offer extra bonuses to get their consent.

Keys to successful business & project implementation

·?????? Focus on the results: Fast implementation to do the business.

·?????? Collaborate. The more you collaborate, the less capital/ money you need. The more you can scale.

·?????? Do not be greedy. Share your ownership and profits. Understand that a piece of a big pie is always larger than a small or no pie all for yourself.

·?????? Stay practical. Eliminate anything that does not add value.

·?????? Focus on feasible solutions. Avoid idealistic thinking. Just make things functioning.

·?????? Engage and collaborate with all stakeholders. Share ownership, rewards, and risks.

·?????? Avoid all theoretical talk.

·?????? Move fast. Learn while you implement. Perfect over time.

·?????? Expect and accept that you will make mistakes.

·?????? Scale business every year. You can grow a multi-million-dollar business within a few years.

Focus on serving people

·?????? Above explained how to build a successful business and earn millions of dollars.

·?????? However, never forget that businesspeople who want to be long-term successful, always focus on serving other people. Focusing only on profitability is short-term thinking and bad for business.

·?????? Make your main objective to serve hundreds of thousands/ millions of Afghan people and build Afghanistan in a profitable, sustainable way. If you do this, you will succeed.

Understand the bigger picture

·?????? The majority of Afghan people, about 75 (!) percent work in agriculture & food production. The contribution to the GDP, however, is only 25 percent.

·?????? Despite of such enormous people efforts, Afghanistan has to important about USD 1 billion every year to feed the population. This is about 7 percent of entire annual GDP.

·?????? Sadly, about fifty (!) percent of food is wasted through no/ bad storage, poor distribution, planning, etc.

·?????? Every wintertime many poor people do not have the means to buy food and stay warm. Many families have the difficult choice to see their children freezing or hungry or both.

·?????? This suffering is avoidable! We must and can improve the above!

·?????? The solution is not to ask foreign donors for money hand-outs or NGOs to offer crisis relief. We need to address the root causes: Increase productivity of agricultural sector. Minimize/ eliminate food wastage. Build storages to keep food in Afghanistan (rather than exporting it and re-importing it at higher prices). Guide farmers in growing the most suitable fruits & vegetables for highest yield and overall revenue.

·?????? More foreign aid and NGOs are not the answer. Afghans themselves need to step up and address the issues. Afghans must build their own country!

Step up and take action! Become rich and build Afghanistan at the same time!

·?????? There are many opportunities for local entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors in Afghanistan right now to earn a lot of money and build successful companies.

·?????? Key to success is to understand the needs of millions of Afghans and providing relevant solutions.

·?????? Building cold storage facilities offers very high profit margins, at very low risk, with fast repayment cycles of less than six months. It is also a great solution to help Afghanistan gain food independence.

Recommended next steps:

·?????? Study this guide and discuss with suitable colleagues & friends.

·?????? Develop a preliminary business plan.

·?????? Reach out to Industry expert & business advisor Alex Steinberg to apply for getting a chance to present your plan and receiving further practical guidance.

?You may reach out to Alex Steinberg through WhatsApp at +966531824178?

(Please understand that many people ask for meeting Alex. Preference is given to those who are most dedicated and prepared to build their businesses and provide value to the Afghan people).

About the author and facilitator of then guidance workshops in Kabul:

Alex Steinberg has developed, built, and led companies across the world. He has advised, directed, and supported strategies, programs, and implementations of 30+ famous multi-national organizations. Alex has worked across all key business functions, processes, and value chains of organizations across key industries. He has gained deep insights into on farm to fork projects with very large organizations.

Alex Steinberg’s insights into 230+ working for many leading organizations in the world gives him rich experience to analyze, troubleshoot, develop, build, and scale companies. Alex is currently in Kabul with the intent to help build the private sector in Afghanistan to benefit millions of Afghans.

Legal Disclaimer

This article reflects the opinion of Alex Steinberg only. It does not claim to represent the viewpoints of any present/ former client, employer, or partner. The author acknowledges that there are often different viewpoints on a topic, which are equally valid. Constructive discussion rather than criticism can lead to better ideas and positive outcome & value to business and society.