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| Daniel, Caroline, and Richard |
When the
pressure is on what do you do? When the unexpected happens, how do you react?
One thing is definitely true of operating a business in Africa: It keeps you on
your toes and never a dull day.
During my
service in the Peace Corps I wrote monthly posts to capture my experiences and
learning lessons. Now five years later (can you believe that??) – it’s time I
capture some of my experiences running a business in Mozambique. First, I need
to introduce my business partner, Richard Wakefield who has more decades of
experience running businesses than I have decades of life.
It’s
December of 2021 and we’ve broken a new record for monthly sales; fulfilling
orders for x3 semi-truck loads (53 foot semis too!) to a single client
representing nearly 40% of our business. We’re applying for bank loans to cover
the operating cash flow associated with the growth. It gets approved and we’re
signing contracts and undergoing due diligence before disbursement.
New Years
Eve. Due to a security incident the site representing 40% of our revenue temporarily
closes. Two weeks go by, and a small fraction of people return to site and we resume
a small supply in February with projections ramping up to 2 semi trucks per
week by June. Loan gets disbursed. March volume is a slow increase with April increasing
to 2 semi trucks loads in the month.
March 24th,
a secondary and significantly more egregious security incident happens – the site
fully closes. Fortunately, we lost no assets and minimal loss of produce. We’ve
lost about half of our revenue stream. Our client is going to be delayed in
paying their December, February, and March accounts. We’ve taken on this new
balloon loan with a one-year term (ie they gave us a lump sum, we pay monthly
interest, and at the end of the term must repay the loan in full).
So what do
we do?
Rich and I are out on the veranda
discussing options. We phone the two largest dairy manufacturers in southern
Africa. We set a meeting with the regional chicken and egg farm. Running
numbers on investing in new supplier chains. And by the way, there’s a mine
about 600km away that our same client also caters, but we’d need our own 15 ton
truck if we even want to quote for the business – renting out to fulfill the supply
makes our pricing non-feasible. We start phoning secondhand dealers around the
world.
By the end of April, we have solidified
three risks –
1/ Approved distributor for one of
the dairy manufacturers and are now stocking yogurt and milk
2/ Contract in place with the egg
and chicken farmer and won our first bulk supply of frozen chickens
3/ Selected and purchased a second
hand Mercedes Axor truck out of the UK with a load capacity of 15 tons
The dairy / egg / chicken expansions
were easier risks to take. We were able to secure sales before we had to take
on stock. Then we were able to slightly over-stock so we could have stock on
hand to win additional sales. We do our quotes for the mine that’s 600km away
knowing that when the truck arrives we have to win the sale. There is no other
option. We cannot afford to take on this asset without generating sales with
it.
The truck arrives in July and we
process import duties and clearance and it arrives in Montepuez. First hiccup. Cold
unit is not functioning. We had it inspected in the UK before it shipped out so
we phone the refrigeration company – fortunately it was simply low gas (the
seals dried out in the 3-4 months it was sitting). By the beginning of August,
we win an order for the mine! Big breath of fresh air and a massive relief. We’ll
be okay after all. Sales will return to 2020 averages and we might have a
slight increase on 2021s end of year totals.
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| Our first 15 ton mid sized refrigerated truck! |
Truck is backloading and on its return
after the first delivery. Cold unit goes down – it’s a new error from the
display unit. It gets back to our packhouse and a capacitor has exploded
leaving visible damage and melted plastic across the main computer board. When
it comes to our refrigerated trucks and cold rooms, Richard takes lead on gas related
issues, technical welding, and engine related issues. I take lead on electrics
so this one is with me. We speak to the UK refrigeration company and a parts distributor
to get the full manuals along with wiring diagrams.
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| The computer board in question |
I have a background in software and
had to take 2 computer engineering courses. That was my only experience working
with circuit diagrams and let me tell you – it’s a completely different game
when you’re looking at a circuit diagram for a technology you barely
understand. On this specific Carrier Vector cold unit, the fans are 220v
powered by a generator that is mounted to the engine. Unit cranks, compressor
belt works, and we have gas flowing but no fans and hence no cooling.
Fortunately, our client had a delay
in their stock requirements that bought us an extra 10-days before we needed to
make the next delivery. I should also add we are put as a probationary supplier
pending our service the first 3-months of supply. Pressure is on. There is only
7 volts AC going to the fans. Something is wrong with our generator circuit.
There’s this weird circuit on the diagram being called an “excitor circuit”
that is feeding power back into the generator, and the capacitor is wired into
this circuit. Ok, we seem to be getting somewhere.
There is a guy in Pemba (200km
inland from us) that can bench test motors so let’s dismount the 220v generator
and let him test it. He wires a 20uf capacity in the excitor circuit and hooks
up a motor with a belt to run the generator. It’s producing 230 volts! Ok,
there’s hope, finally. We have 4-days left to get our unit working.
Re-mount everything and replace the
capacitor hoping nothing explodes again. Unit cranks AAAAND 7 volts… Well that’s
not good. Back to the circuit diagram. There’s a relay showing up on the
diagram wired into this Excitor Circuit. It’s controlling whether 1 capacitor,
both capacitors, or neither capacitor is feeding back into the excitor circuit.
Trace wires from generator to relay and
relay to capacitors and it’s starting to make some sense.
Funny enough, the relay is
controlled by 12v DC signals. Dismount the relay, test it with a battery and it
seems to be working fine. Ok, well, off and on is often the fix with computer
problems right? Clean all of the wire connections and remount the relay. Crank
the engine, compressor belt spinning, generator belt spinning – power production
225v. We did it. We freakin did it.
Little did I know at the time, but
this experience with the excitor circuit was absolutely essential to a repair
on our 70kva commercial generator the following year. That’s a story for
another time.
We made our deadline and supplied on
schedule for the next 3-months. Our service was on-point to the degree that
this client ended up giving us exclusive supply to their mine and it has been
our most valuable client ever since.
This was a defining moment for me –
in both how we react and how we manage stress. It felt like everything was on
the line, and to some degree it was. I struggled to sleep in this period. It’s
funny though looking back. In the subsequent stressful periods that have come
since, I sleep like a baby and that too is a reflection for another time.
I’m planning on resuming my blog
posts, mainly for myself as a tool of reflection. Give me your thoughts and
feedback and as always guidance.
Thank you for taking the time to
read this!
With all of my heart
Daniel Bladow
07-August-2023
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