Mutoko District · Mashonaland East · Zimbabwe

Where the soil
meets the sun.

A USD 4.5 million blended-finance investment building Zimbabwe's first fully solar-powered, export-grade tomato processing facility — anchored by 1,500 smallholder outgrowers and engineered to DFI standard.

USD 4.5M Total project cost
1,500 Smallholder outgrowers
850 t CO₂e avoided per year
22.4% Projected equity IRR

The opportunity

Zimbabwe imports tomato paste it could grow at home.

USD 18M

The problem

Zimbabwe spends more than USD 18 million annually importing processed tomato products — paste, sauces, purées — despite having arable land, climate and labour suited to in-country production. Smallholder farmers in Mutoko grow some of the finest field tomatoes in Southern Africa but capture only a fraction of the value chain. Post-harvest losses routinely exceed thirty per cent.

20 t/day

The solution

Mutomato integrates three assets on a single twelve-hectare site: a twenty-tonne-per-day HACCP-compliant processing facility, a 500 kW captive solar PV array with battery storage, and a structured outgrower programme linking 1,500 smallholders — sixty per cent women — to guaranteed offtake, extension services and climate-smart inputs.

Three integrated components

One site. Three balance-sheet assets.

01

Processing

A modern, HACCP-compliant line producing tomato paste, sauces and purées for regional supermarkets and institutional offtakers. Twenty tonnes of raw fruit intake per day at full ramp.

02

Solar energy

A 500 kW solar PV installation with battery storage supplies ninety per cent of plant load. The facility is grid-independent, Paris-aligned and immune to Zimbabwe's load-shedding cycle.

03

Outgrower network

Fifteen hundred smallholders — anchored by cooperatives — supply the plant under fixed-price forward contracts, with mobile payments, extension agronomy and input finance built in.

Measured impact

A Paris-aligned, gender-smart, catalytic investment.

Mutomato is being structured against the HIPSO indicator framework and the 2X Challenge Level 2 criteria. Every dollar of catalytic capital crowds in measurable development outcomes.

SDG 1 SDG 2 SDG 5 SDG 7 SDG 8 SDG 13 SDG 17
A bankable, climate-resilient platform for Zimbabwean agri-processing.

— Project Thesis

The capital stack

Blended finance, institutionally structured.

Senior debt, concessional tranches and catalytic equity — sized to deliver additionality, crowd in commercial capital and preserve pari passu protections.

15%
20%
18%
17%
12%
10%
8%

Currently engaging DFIs · Q2 2026

Let's get this built.

We are inviting conversations with development finance institutions, impact funds and strategic agri-processors. Financial close targeted for Q4 2026.

Request the data room projects@afroglobaltrade.com