Raising rabbits is not much of a problem, the process is fairly simple and many people can do it. However the biggest challenge happens to be access to markets. Despite great taste and health benefits, many shy away from rabbit meat. However, over the years more restaurants have been adding rabbit meat on the menus and the Chinese Community in the country has been one of the key drivers of demand.
Our forum has an active Rabbits Whatsapp Group where members share resources on raising rabbits. And one of our star members is Bulawayo based Trymore T Cee Nzou. Instead of complaining about markets access, he innovated and introduced Rabbits Biltong which he branded as Rabbit Bites and the response has been encouraging.
He leveraged on the 100k Active forum members and partnered with distributors such as Gwenn Chimuti and Audline Matsika in Harare who stock and push Rabbit Bites to Hararians. Massive demand for Rabbit Bites from Zbinites as the tasty rabbits gain traction.
The last time he travelled from Bulawayo to Harare for a ZBIN Sports Day, he boarded a night bus and then sold samples to fellow passengers and the response was overwhelming proving that a market does exist. Zbinite Tinashe Makuvise bought 20 Rabbit Bite packets and took them to hotels in Kariba and the response was the same-great uptake and positive reviews. Pause for a moment and calculate the distance between Bulawayo to Kariba via Harare!
The Bulawayo based youngster will soon be running out of space as demand surges. There have been inquiries from as far as UK from fellow Zbinites interested in pushing the bites.
The Power of Innovation!
There are more opportunities to be unlocked when youngsters add value and then collaborate in market development. Only the sky is the limit for those who combine thinking in other terms and hard work. Just like we helped push hybrid paw paws and cruise ship jobs-our next success story is on Rabbit Bites from Bulawayo based J&J Rabbits.
To those interested in Rabbit Bites, do contact Trymore on +263 777 988 092 or his Harare based distribution agents-Gwenn Chimuti on +263 719 224 766 and Audlin Matsika on +263 779 210332
