Linda Hukuimwe, a distinguished Zimbabwean businesswoman in the farming industry, is positively transforming people’s livelihoods and improving farming practices by endorsing the adoption of greenhouse farming. This approach ensures increased production, minimizes production risks, maximizes profits, and prevents heavy losses caused by pests, diseases, and lack of knowledge.
Linda is the CEO and Founder of Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce. Through her firm, she has consistently demonstrated the significance of greenhouse farming and fully acknowledged its many benefits.
While advocating for best practices for women in farming, Linda recently expressed her excitement on social media about her invitation as a guest speaker at the 2024 Farming in Heels 2.0 event on November 24th.
“I’m thrilled to share that I have been invited to speak with a group of amazing women at Farming in Heels 2.0,” she exclaimed.
The event, running under the theme “Exploring Opportunities and Spaces Open to Women in Agriculture and Business,” aims to bring together women in the agriculture sector. It provides them with networking opportunities, shares insights on best farming practices, and discusses how to build successful businesses and overcome challenges and stereotypes in this male-dominated industry.
Under Linda’s leadership, Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce has achieved multiple breakthroughs through the adoption of sustainable practices and skills development. The company offers various services, including greenhouse architecture and construction, greenhouse farming coaching and training, risk management solutions, post-harvest loss prevention, and pest management, among others.
Linda firmly believes that greenhouse farming is Zimbabwe’s major breakthrough in horticulture due to its numerous benefits.
“At Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce, we are encouraging greenhouse farming because it offers several advantages that can help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Key benefits include water conservation, a controlled environment, reduced pesticide use, higher yields, carbon sequestration, energy efficiency, resilience to extreme weather, and enabling local food production to avoid transportation needs,” Linda noted.
Greenhouse farming in Zimbabwe has become a feasible alternative to traditional farming methods, providing a solution to the alarming disasters caused by climate change. It offers numerous advantages in the current Zimbabwean environment and is a key driver of economic growth and food security.
Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce is not just another entrepreneurial success story; it is also a platform for innovative farming knowledge and practices, particularly in the horticulture and poultry sectors.
As an entrepreneur, Linda has created sustainable opportunities for individuals both directly and indirectly involved with her business, from job creation to providing access to innovative farming practices and technology.
In the remote Domboshava area, Linda manages her greenhouses on a nearly 2-hectare plot while running a thriving poultry business. Additionally, her company supplies horticultural produce such as tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, eggs, and animal feeds.
Refinement from Traditional Methods to Modern Practices
From the outset of her business, Linda faced numerous challenges, including post-harvest losses, lack of knowledge, and low sales. However, she has continually evolved, embracing new and effective methods that guarantee Graceroots’s growth and expansion. She is a firm believer in individual empowerment and learning through experience.
“Life is a process of learning and unlearning. Embrace the cycle, unlearn what holds you back, learn what empowers you, and relearn through experience. Growth demands flexibility; always embrace the new,” she advises.
Linda has embraced social media as a marketing tool, collaborating with business partners to reach a wider audience. She has also adopted innovative farming technologies to enhance operational efficiency.
To date, Linda’s enterprise provides high-end horticulture and poultry advisory and consulting services for both professionals and novices interested in farming.
Linda’s business transformation is a testament to the power of knowledge, determination, and adaptability. Her success demonstrates that with the right knowledge, positive mindset, digital skills, and tools, anyone can overcome obstacles and achieve greatness.
Background Overview & the Birth of Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce
Although Linda was born and partly raised in the Mabvuku area of Harare, her family relocated to Arcturus Mine in Goromonzi District due to her father’s job. She completed her primary and secondary education there. Despite Arcturus being a mining environment, it was surrounded by farms, and her mother’s passion for farming sparked Linda’s interest in agriculture.
“We were surrounded by plots, and my mother had pieces of land in the community where we spent our weekends farming. We never bought mealie meal because my parents were great farmers. This is probably when the seed of farming was planted in my mind,” she recalls.
After moving from Arcturus, Linda completed her first degree and then a Master’s in Development Studies at the Women’s University.
The Drastic Shift from the Health Department to Horticulture Farming
During her industrial attachment at Population Solutions for Health, where she worked in community service programs and as a health coordinator for schools in Harare during the COVID-19 pandemic, farming seemed distant for Linda, as her primary focus was on her professional career.
“At that time, I was just exploring horticulture as a side hustle. One day, Archbishop Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti told me and my husband plainly that my blessings and success lay in farming, specifically horticulture, not in what I was doing. I listened, and after his prayer, I found the courage to resign,” she narrates.
Linda then began full-time horticulture farming, initially supplying renowned supermarkets in the country, and it was during this time that Graceroots was born. She discovered her passion for farming, but faced multiple challenges, especially when her projects seemed to thrive. These included being evicted by landlords for various, often unjust, reasons.
Through unwavering Christian faith, determination, and resilience, Linda managed to grow Graceroots to its current standing. She was gifted a large piece of land by her mother in the Mungate area of Domboshava and eventually established the business with the support of her family. The name Graceroots was suggested by her church pastor, symbolizing her strong faith in God as the driving force behind her success.
“The foundation of Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce is deeply rooted in God’s gracious provision,” she explains.
No entrepreneur’s journey is without challenges, and Linda’s is no exception. She faced family and gender stereotypes, evictions, theft by employees, limited market access, and the challenge of balancing her professional career with farming, which initially felt like a side hustle.
As a firm believer in learning from experience, she emphasizes that farming is a full-time commitment: “Cellphone farming does not work. If you want to do farming, you must be on the ground full-time.”
The Future of Graceroots Fresh Farm Produce
At 40 years old, Linda is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and a passionate mentor who has provided opportunities and empowerment to aspiring entrepreneurs in the farming sector. Under Graceroots, she has opened advisory and coaching branches to equip individuals with skills in greenhouse farming.
In a major development for Graceroots, Linda confirmed that the company now has an online platform for vegetable shopping, which will expand its reach and accessibility.
Furthermore, Linda shared plans for Graceroots to eventually enter the export market, pending the acquisition of more land and other necessary resources. She is also a prospective candidate for the She Exporters program. Linda was also excited to be featured on Kenneth Sharpe’s Phoenix Show on November 24th.
She is grateful for the opportunities she has received throughout her entrepreneurial journey and firmly believes that if aspiring entrepreneurs are given the same chances, there is room for growth and entrepreneurial success in Zimbabwe.
