The Team

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With my experience as a Senior Associate a top Zambian law firm, I bring in critical strengths from a legal and a network perspective.

Lupiya Simusokwe is the Director of the subsidiary Mt. Sunzu Coffee Estate Ltd. in Zambia. Lupiya has over 7 years’ experience, and regularly advises international clients on their transactions in Zambia, including international development banks seeking to invest in Zambia’s growing private sector, as well as international commercial banks including HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays, Standard Bank and Nedbank. Lupiya has a wealth of experience in capital markets transactions, public-private partnership transactions, acquisition and leveraged financing transactions, mining financing transactions. Lupiya’s experience also extends to cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions transactions.

If planting a tree is done in a hurry the fruits will not be as sweet. Patience and passion are the key to be successful on the long term. 

Biswell’s family roots in agriculture. He cannot recall how many generations have lived from the Zambian lands. He has a proven track record in building and maintaining agricultural endeavors, is well versed in the good agricultural practices (GAP) and familiar with novel farming technologies. Biswell brings his local farming expertise to support the team in the position of a farm manager. He is responsible for the day to day activities, the coordination of the team and taking care of the coffee from seedlings, to the harvest. He has proven planning and organizing skills and is interconnected with local authorities. Therefore, he is a key player when it comes to navigating through unknown procedures and local customs. 

In this internship, I’ll be working in the position of assistant coffee manager. I’ll be involved in the first steps to start the coffee farm.  

A starting coffee farm in Zambia is the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about tropical agriculture. This is of key importance since in the future I want to specialize in tropical agriculture. Moreover, with this internship the learned theory can finally be used in practice. The internship also requests from the intern to be independent and take responsibility which is what I seek to maximize my work and personal development. In addition, Mount Sunzu Coffee Estate is run by a motivated and innovative team of agronomists and economists which are seeking to create a holistic farm concept. This is how I believe the agriculture of the future should look like and therefore I want to be a part of such a farm and its creation. 

My experience in farm management will support the Mt. Sunzu Coffee Estate with a sound strategy and business structure. 

Since 2013 I am working in Côte d'Ivoire  on the farm of the Swiss couple Jolanda and Johann Dähler. Between my Bachelor and my Master of Science in Agricultural Science and Agro- Economics at the ETH Zurich I gained insights into the management and organization of large-scale plantations. 

After finalizing my master’s thesis on the impact of multinational enterprises in emerging countries based on a case study on Syngenta’s impact in Kenya, I returned to Côte d'Ivoire where I was now responsible for the management of the farm I’ve worked before. The focus were on the production of rubber and cocoa as well as the implementation of a new project – initiated by the Swiss entrepreneur Fredy Hiestand – with the goal of developing a sustainable agro-forest production system. Now I am working for Läderach (Schweiz) AG and am responsible for the cocoa supply and partnerships. 

My skills in accounting, business planning and my experience regarding legal topics supplement the team perfectly. 

During my studies of Business Administration at the University of Zurich, I was supporting two young entrepreneurs leading their own private equity start-up with the acquisition of their own company. This enabled me to gather experience in the realms of mergers and acquisitions, as well as the management and development of established companies. For four years I worked at PwC in the Corporate Finance and Deals Team and was responsible for financial modelling, business planning and enterprise valuation. In my current position as an analyst at Affentranger Associates I am responsible for corporate finance mandates in the private equity and M&A transaction sector. Based on my experience, I am certain that no company can be successful in the long-term without a functioning operative and strategic controlling, proper accounting and an understanding of administrative and legal processes surrounding the daily business activities. 

I gained various practical insights in farm management, which I will use for the local management of the daily business. 

During his studies Fridolin enhanced his practical knowledge about agriculture with various internships in different agricultural businesses in Switzerland and abroad. While completing his Master of Science in Agricultural Science at the ETH Zurich he had the chance to complete an internship on a Zambian farm. Since then, it has been Fridolin’s dream to develop his own farm in Zambia. After finishing his Master’s, Fridolin is gaining leadership experience in the coffee production. He built a network of contacts in Zambia and is ready to take the leap to become an entrepreneur. The last three years, Fridolin worked for one of the world’s largest agricultural businesses and was responsible for yield optimization on a large-scale coffee farms.