Bird-view: Combining love for birds and interest in business

Quail farming offers lucrative profit margins for entrepreneur.

KARACHI:

If you want to cook quail at home, there is a high likelihood that you won’t be able to find quail meat in the market.

In fact, not every restaurant in the city has quail on its menu – the meat of this mid-sized bird, also a source of protein, is limited to the elite restaurants mostly.

The lack of easy access to quail meat may be a disappointment for consumers but it is a business opportunity for quail farmers – that is at least the case of Jebran Almani, proprietor of Almani Quail Farm.

“When it comes to quail, there is a huge gap between demand and supply and I want to tap that opportunity,” Almani said, explaining the need for expanding his home-based quail farm, which he operates out of Karachi.

The bird-lover turned entrepreneur has been competing for Angel investment at Business Startup Launch (BSL) – a joint initiative of NEW-G and INJAZ Pakistan that provides a platform for startups, seeking funds to expand their business.

Almani’s venture, Almani Quail Farm, got a positive response from investors at BSL during the elevator pitch round. After making it to the top four, he is now competing for a reward: 24 weeks of mentorship and Rs1 million seed money to be shared between two finalists.

Almani’s love for birds coupled with his interest in business, led him to start research on quail market. Shortly after learning about the demand-supply gap, he decided to enter this niche market – he bought an incubator and a brooder; built cages himself to set up his own quail farm, all with a meager investment of Rs25,000.

One year into business, Almani’s home-based quail farm, which measures 10-by-10 square foot, produces 8,000 quails per month. He is earning over Rs100,000 or Rs10 per bird in monthly profit – the amount includes 15% share in the profit of his partner’s farm in DG Khan that produces 12,000 birds per month.

However, two of them combined are not able to supply even a quarter of their client’s demand – Almani is receiving orders for 80,000 birds per month from Karachi alone. This rising number of orders forced Almani to increase his production.

“I want to set up a bigger farm – along the lines of a corporate poultry farm – and a storage facility to stock supplies for up to two months,” Almani said. He estimates the cost of this setup to be Rs1.8 million.

This new farm, according to Almani, will have the capacity to produce 40,000 quails per month – enough to help him meet half of the current demand.

“I can’t meet the growing demand for quails even if I outsource production to other farmers because none of them has such a huge flock,” Almani said – this demand comes from his customers in Karachi alone, an indication that the actual market is much bigger.

Though a niche market, quail farming offers lucrative profit margins, according to Almani – the average profit per bird can go up to Rs40 in case of a bulk customer: restaurants, for example. In fact, he said the established players are even exporting their products to Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia and the U.S. because of higher profit margins offered by importers in these markets.

Even if he qualifies for the seed money, Almani will not be able to meet his target of Rs1.8. However, he is working on an alternate way of meeting the current demand: outsourcing production to other farmers.

Almani is also producing equipment, such as incubator, brooder and breeder, which is essential for setting up a home-based farm – he has already helped 10 small investors set up their own quail farms.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2014.

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