OCMIS Irrigazioni SpA, a leading company in the irrigation systems sector based in Modena, officially entered the African market. This has happened through a partnership with Murimi 247, a Zimbabwean agricultural development company, among those formed by E4Impact, that operates in agricultural development and uses digital technologies to improve access to mechanization solutions.
Thanks to the support of E4Impact, that enabled the meeting among Murimi 247 and OCMIS Irrigazioni, the African company has become the official distributor of the Italian one in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
This collaboration represents a new success for E4Impact, which aims to be a key player in building commercial relationships between Italy and Africa. Indeed, Murimi 247 was co-founded by Spencer Matonhodze, an #E4ImpactEntrepreneur who took part in our Global MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe in 2018. For over a decade, he has worked with more than 3,500 farmers across Zimbabwe and Zambia, with the objective of contributing to sustainable growth in agricultural development across the African continent.
OCMIS, committed to providing continuous support, technical assistance, and expertise to its customers, aims to empower workers within the agricultural sector to achieve their goals and maximize their potential, especially in vast regions like those in Africa.
The agreement between Ocmis and Murimi 247 comes at a crucial time, characterized by the need to optimise water usage and increase agricultural production in Africa to face the local population growth. Above all, agriculture and livestock are the most important economic sectors in Zimbabwe and Zambia, with crops such as tobacco, cotton, corn, and fruit and vegetables requiring modern irrigation systems.
The meeting between the two companies took place during the 2023 edition of the Business Networking Week in Italy, during which Spencer Matonhodze had the chance to travel to Italy to establish relationships with multiple Italian companies. This is a networking program organized by E4Impact for its African entrepreneurs involving a one-week stay in Italy and various activities that enable participants to explore new business solutions.
“The partnership between Murimi 247 and OCMIS Irrigations represents an important step forward in providing innovative solutions that account for the evolving needs of African farmers. We are proud to have facilitated the meeting between these two companies during the Business Networking Week Italy last October. Moreover, it was at Cibus Tech – one of the trade fairs where we took the entrepreneurs from Africa – that Spencer Matonhodze, CEO di Murimi 247, soon found a strong synergy with the representatives of OCMIS. Our role was then to support and facilitate the creation of this trade partnership, and we are glad that it could happen in such a short time”, claimed Mario Molteni, E4Impact’s CEO.
“We are excited about this new partnership with OCMIS Irrigation because it is a great opportunity for farmers to have access to high-quality and reliable irrigation technologies, thus contributing to a sustainable growth in the African agricultural sector”, added Spencer Matonhodze. “The constant support of the E4Impact Foundation has been really priceless, not only for the signing of this agreement but also for the future development of my enterprises in Africa”.
Even the CEO of OCMIS Irrigazioni SpA, Nino Atzei, was delighted with this new collaboration: “This is a very important milestone, linking the passion for know-how and technology, which distinguish Ocmis products, with a partner like Murimi 247. For us, Africa represents a very prestigious challenge, a big continent where there is an extreme need for precise agriculture and irrigation systems, with an ever-increasing focus on water resource management. It is our goal to be able to put our experience, history and technology at the service of an emerging continent. Optimisation of the water resource is a primary focus for us, and we continually seek to develop technological solutions that enable effective and efficient use. The digitalisation of irrigation systems is the starting point to be able to offer our customers solutions that are always more capable of communicating with each other. But above all, that they can reproduce the best irrigation solution for their precise plot, avoiding waste and trying to optimise rainfall on their perimeter.“
The partnership between OCMIS Irrigazioni and Murimi 247 marks an important step forward in building bridges between Italy and Africa, showing how international collaborations help promote innovation and sustainability in the agricultural sector. This agreement is not only a victory for the two companies, but also for E4Impact Foundation, which confirms itself as a catalyst of opportunities for entrepreneurs able to generate a positive impact in their territories.
We hope that this collaboration will pave the way for new successful synergies, which can respond to global challenges such as sustainable resource management and increased agricultural production. With the commitment and shared vision of all stakeholders, we are confident that this is only the beginning of a long journey of growth and innovation.