Written by Jaco Maritz | From How We Made It In Africa

Carl Heinrich Bruhn’s perception of Africa used to be mostly negative. “I came from this typical view Europeans have of Africa, that it is this continent of hunger, war and corruption.”

However, his opinions made a dramatic about-turn since he first came to the continent to look for investment opportunities. “My view about Africa has changed completely.”

Bruhn is a German farmer who has spent his career working in Europe’s agricultural and food industry. A few years ago he decided to start his own agricultural company, and in 2011 Amatheon Agri was launched. The company has managed to attract various high profile businesspeople, such as former Unilever Africa head Frank Braeken, who joined the company as chief investment officer.

Amatheon calls itself a “European agribusiness and farming company developing and operating sustainable projects in sub-Saharan Africa”. However, it was not Bruhn’s original intention to do business in Africa.

After initially focusing on opportunities in Kazakhstan and Russia, the company was offered a project in southern Africa, which opened his eyes to the potential on the continent.

“I went to sub-Saharan Africa and said: ‘Wow, why have I never seen this opportunity?’ In regards to business operations in Africa, people always talk about the risks and enormous difficulties, which led to me adapting this view as well. Today I have a very different and more sophisticated view, because it is not about the risks and difficulties, which without doubt exist, but it’s about whether you know how to manage them.”

The company’s first investment was in Zambia where it acquired more than 30,000ha of land 200km west of the capital Lusaka. Amatheon cultivates soya, maize and wheat in the region and is steadily growing its cattle herd.

Furthermore, the company recently launched a farming project in northern Uganda and is looking to expand into others areas within the country. It has already invested €30m in Zambia and Uganda, and plans to spend an additional €350m in the coming two years on farming, trading and food processing activities in other African countries.

Amatheon picked Zambia for its first investment because of the country’s “political and social stability, openness to foreign investment, as well as its favourable conditions for agriculture”. Zambia also has a growing consumer class and is bordered by eight countries, providing a large market for commodities and food products.

Read more at How We Made It In Africa