You better know how to build a boat Presented by Jayson Coomer, CFO of Chicoa Fish Farm, Mozambique, written by Eamonn Ryan A case study in agribusiness, cold chain and real-world logistics in Africa.
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You better know how to build a boat Presented by Jayson Coomer, CFO of Chicoa Fish Farm, Mozambique, written by Eamonn Ryan A case study in agribusiness, cold chain and real-world logistics in Africa.
All images by © Cold Link Africa
In his entertaining and insightful case study delivered at the GCCA Africa Cold Chain Conference, Jayson Coomer – CFO of Mozambique’ s Chicoa Fish Farm – shared a decade’ s worth of lessons in navigating the complexities of cold chain logistics, informal markets and agribusiness in Africa.
With stories ranging from failed boats to thriving fish-head vendors, he shows how deep local understanding, humility and adaptability are the keys to building not just a business, but an industry. This is a journey
Part of the audience at the GCCA Africa cold chain conference.
through the gaps between theory and practice, and what happens when Western assumptions meet African realities.
INTRODUCING THE‘ EXPERT TRAP’
“ Being an expert is a recipe for failure in Africa.”
That’ s how Coomer opened his presentation: not with a list of credentials, but with a confession. Despite being a published academic, a former University College of Dublin lecturer, and the CFO of a USD35-million fish farming operation, his success in Mozambique has come not from expertise, but from unlearning it.
The problem with being an expert? You think you already understand the problem. In Africa, assumptions from the West – about pricing, demand, infrastructure or cold chain logistics – don’ t always hold. What works in Johannesburg or Geneva can fall flat in a fishing village on the Zambezi. And if you ' re not open to learning, you ' re likely to misread everything from customer behaviour to the true meaning of‘ market demand’.
LESSON ONE:“ DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BUILD A BOAT?”
When Chicoa Fish Farm was starting out on the remote Lake Cahora Bassa peninsula, everything was beautiful – in theory. But there was no road, no electricity( for the first four years), no refrigeration and no real infrastructure to speak of.
Enter a European development finance expert eager to make a difference. His first job? Build a harvest boat. Weeks passed. No boat appeared. What he had done, however, was count every bolt and washer … just in case anything went missing.“ No parts would go missing on his watch. But also, no boat would be built.” Eventually, a minor car accident spooked him, and he left the project for good.
The point? Knowing how to analyse risk on a spreadsheet is not the same as knowing how to manage risk on a mud road with no power. And in many parts of Africa, knowing how to get something done is more important than being an expert on what should be done.
LESSON TWO: DON’ T UNDERESTIMATE THE INFORMAL MARKET
Ask most people in finance: Can you make money selling to the poor in informal markets? They’ ll likely say no. Coomer disagrees – strongly.“ From where I sit, there is no one who knows how to multiply one dollar like a poor person.”
At Chicoa, some of the most profitable and reliable customers are small-scale, informal fish vendors, often women, buying fresh tilapia heads for USD0.20 each, cooking them and reselling them with sides for USD0.80 per plate. Many of them consistently earn 10x the minimum wage in Mozambique.
These women are raising chickens, growing tomatoes, running hair salons and
6 www. coldlinkafrica. co. za COLD LINK AFRICA • November / December 2025