Day 1 at work: The real deal Pfunda Tea Company

After our van -breakdown debacle I finally get to see the Pfunda Tea Company which is right across from the Cooperative. I meet with the head of the factory and he leads me into part of the process of making me tea. The cooperative side of Pfunda was already explained to me this morning by the manager. (On the motorbike in the photo)

The factory manager is a very clever guy whose father is a tea farmer. He knows every detail about tea. He explains to me how the tea is collected in the fields on the farmer’s own territory and transported to Pfunda. The fully loaded truck goes and stands on the scale. (As in photo) The truck gets unloaded by workers in blue and the empty truck goes back on the scale to calculate the difference. I thought that the tea leaves smelled great but according to the factory manager the smell wasn’t a good sign. He said that is a sign of lower quality. Samples are taken from the tea and analyzed in the weighing office. A score of 66 is premium quality. The tea goes to the first level for drying. The factory has 290 workers and Pfunda about 2000 pluckers.

There is also a huge storage facility of wood for the ovens to dry the tea. This morning I had read about CTC tea and orthodox tea and I noticed CTC equipment. I will receive more information on that tomorrow.

So far I have received quite limited information even though they keep telling me: We will tell you everything; but everything seems very marginal. The task to develop a strategic business plan is becoming more and more difficult. I have created an agenda to visit all the cooperation in the hope I will informally receive more information. I have gone through the filing cabinet in the office and this is also very limited. Numerien keeps telling me that they are in embryological stage and the union is ill. I am the doctor and I need to prescribe them medicine. I want to do my best especially as for the union having me here has a big financial impact. They rather not eat and have me eat.

I was also supposed to create a framework for Microfinance and microsavings within the Union but now I found out that the Pfunda Cooperative has its own saving and credit union. Things are starting to become very confusing… I hope this will soon all be cleared.

The President of the Union, Augustin also a teacher in primary school came to pay me a visit in the office. He was a very friendly and smart chap. We ran down my schedule and agreed on the costs of my mission. He wants us to sign a contract now. Augustin has a mandate for 3 years as President and still has a year to go. Augustin (Next to the motorbike in the picture.) also has tea farm land. I asked Numerien if there were still farm plots available but his answer is no. The land in Rwanda is so fertile it can grow anything. What a luxury !