KENYA · GUIDE 0010 · EDITION 4.2

Courgette growing in Kenya: Risks and Launch Plan

Set the conditions for a safe commercial test

oversized fruit
handling scratches

Skipping a picking visit can create oversized stock that increases harvested kilograms while reducing the quantity the intended kitchen is willing to purchase that week.

A risk list is useful only when it changes a decision. For each risk, write the observable warning, who checks it and the response before the next commitment. Do not treat a reserve of money as permission to continue unsafe or unauthorized work.

Use a small, measurable pilot

Track harvests from a small plot and ask a cook to assess size and texture.

The pilot scope is: Build the courgette offer around the cook's chosen dish and delivery rhythm, allowing picking decisions to follow that use rather than simply waiting for heavier fruit.

Gate	Evidence before continuing
Scope agreed	Build the courgette offer around the cook's chosen dish and delivery rhythm, allowing picking decisions to follow that use rather than simply waiting for heavier fruit.
Output acceptable	Ask the cook to slice and prepare trial courgettes at different maturity stages, then identify the stage that gives acceptable texture and portion consistency.
Costs recorded	Include the labour of frequent inspection and the lost premium value of fruit missed during picking, alongside ordinary growing costs charged to the trial plot.
Buyer response recorded	Record each picking interval, fruit sizes, kitchen acceptance and alternative sales of oversized fruit, making the cost of a missed visit visible in the pilot.

Stage the launch around prerequisites

First confirm the buyer specification and activity requirements. Then compare suppliers, establish suitable facilities and prepare the operating record. Run the bounded trial when those prerequisites are in place. Review actual costs, quality failures and cash collected before increasing the commitment.

This sequence is not a promise that the complete business cycle fits into 30 days. Growing periods, qualifications, approvals, seasonal access and customer buying cycles can require longer. Revise the schedule when a prerequisite changes rather than skipping it to meet a launch date.

Choose continue, revise, pause or stop

Continue only when the scoped result is accepted and direct costs and payment timing are workable. Revise one part of the offer if the problem is identifiable and affordable to test again. Pause when required information, permission, skills or resources are missing. Stop the affected work when safety, consent or lawful authority is uncertain.

Keep a maximum test loss and unpaid-balance limit suited to your actual funds. A successful single delivery is useful evidence, but it does not establish year-round demand or justify committing every available resource.

Tie launch milestones to observable checks

Risk signal	Evidence to inspect	Response to test
Oversize harvest accumulates	Compare inspection dates with size-grade tally	Tighten observation and reduce commitments until the premium grade is consistent.
Soft ends or visible decay	Inspect the entire lot and trace harvest and handling conditions	Hold affected fruit and obtain qualified diagnosis; do not cut defects away to disguise the order.
Skin bruises on arrival	Compare packed and receiving photographs and crate stack pressure	Change packing depth and vehicle restraint, then inspect a small trial delivery.

Outstanding go / hold conditions

Local cultivar, crop-health and harvesting advice remain to be checked.
No preservation method, crop-protection programme or guaranteed production level is established.

Assign an owner, evidence reference and review date to each unresolved condition. Do not give every milestone a fixed calendar date when it depends on a crop, production, approval or competence cycle. Run only a suitable limited trial, reconcile accepted output and actual cash, and record whether the evidence supports holding, revising, proceeding within the limit or stopping.