corporate social responsibility (CSR), is a term that has been bandied around loosely for too long, said Lam Shumei, founder of Poultry East Africa (PEAL).

What the company does goes beyond CSR, added Lam, as it is a purpose-driven organisation.

Set up in 2012, it is now Rwanda’s largest poultry company. It works with small-scale farmers who are mostly stay-home mothers whose husbands work for the military.

From initially having an on-farm capacity that produced 4,500 chickens per week, the company now partners about 335 small-scale contract farmers in the district. It also caters about 9,000 chickens weekly to its customers, according to market demand.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have estimated that global poultry meat consumption will reach 91 million tonnes by 2032.

Lam, who is also an executive director at family office Azul World, said: “The (farmers) provide us with the area to rear the chickens, and we give them the finances to purchase the chicks and vaccines, etc. Right now, we are the second-busiest sector in the district.

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“Hence, to me, the term CSR, and even the social aspect of ESG (environment, social and governance), needs to be relooked,” she added.

Lam decided to set up PEAL more than a decade ago when she and her father, Larry Lam, the founder and late chairman of port equipment engineering company Portek, visited the country for the launch of a dry port.

“Chicken meat’s selling price at that time cost 6,000 Rwandan francs per kg (about S$12 at that time), and some people could only afford to have it once a year as half the population lived on less than 118,000 Rwandan francs a year,” she said, adding that the situation was unfathomable as chicken meat was supposed to be one of the cheaper meat products. Fast forward to today, and the company has managed to halve the cost of the broiler chickens.

It broke even about six years ago. Last year’s earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation was about US$200,000. “We expect this year’s amount to hit US$800,000 – but there are always events that compress that, such as market glut and biosecurity breaches,” said Lam.

She added: “I believe an organisation needs to be self-sustaining and profitable. Only then can it be in a position (to help others)... we managed to create a micro-economy, and now have the value chain to do everything on our own.”

When asked about the standards and metrics being used to ensure that operations are on track, the 38-year-old said that the feed conversion ratio method is employed.

“It is a global standard that is used. For every (kilogram) of food the chicks eat, (we monitor) how much weight they put on. Of course, we also track the mortality rate. If any of the chicks die, the farmers will have to take photos and report to us.”

One recent challenge Lam faced was navigating the technology era – especially during the pandemic – when she had to decide what were the non-negotiable areas.

“I had to find that balance because if there is too much automation, it goes against the grain of the ethos of helping people – which is the motto of PEAL,” she said.

“Biosecurity was one of them. We wanted to minimise contact between the humans and chickens. The avians in the farm can be wiped out due to a flu, and that would be disastrous for us.”

Lam added: “If you introduce these high-tech gadgets In Rwanda, things will break down. It is either due to an electrical outage, or the people there who are curious about the equipment and want to handle it.”

It is therefore important to keep things basic there, she noted.

As for future plans, Lam said PEAL will further strengthen ties with the small-scale farmers and continue on its trajectory of making chicken meat more accessible to the masses.

At the end of the day, it is not about the complex metrics used to measure the success of the organisation or project that matters, “it is about food nutrition – which is meaningful to me – and empowering people with the ability to make their own choices”, Lam said.