OBRI Tanzania
OBRI Tanzania works with women smallholder farmers to produce sunflower cooking oil. This not only helps women increase their income, but also provides low-income consumers with an affordable alternative to re-using cooking oil.
OBRI buys sunflower seeds from female smallholder farmers and process them into cooking oil. To provide training and inputs, OBRI works with different partner organisations. Low-income communities are the target market.
The business model is different from that of other companies in Tanzania, who import crude oil, refine it, and put it in the market. To have a good margin, they need to sell the product at a high price. Sourcing locally is less expensive.
OBRI sells its cooking oil to local shops, wholesalers and street food vendors at about half the price of their competitors. The cooking oil is accessible and affordableIn and helps customer to replace used oil - which can cause severe health problems.
OBRI works with female smallholder farmers, who produce all the raw materials. They earn 1,400 Tanzanian shillings per kilogram of sunflower seeds, seven times as much as when they sell through middlemen. The training and inputs OBRI provides through their partners also help them increase their productivity.