Green Master Vegetables Business Plan

Investor-ready irrigated vegetable business plan: R12.81m deployed, 8 to 45 hectares in Limpopo, Year 5 revenue R20.81m at a 16.4% EBITDA margin.

Green Master Vegetables — irrigated vegetable lands under production in Limpopo

Business Plan & Investment Proposal · Limpopo, South Africa

Vegetable Farming Business Plan — South Africa

Green Master Vegetables · Water And Who You Sell To.

Irrigated vegetable production in Limpopo, South Africa — 8 hectares in Year 1 rising to
45 by Year 5 across open field and tunnels, built around the winter production window. R12.81 million of
capital deployed, funded by R1.95 million of founder equity, a R3.50 million targeted Blended Finance
grant and R9.50 million of production, asset and Land Bank finance.

R12.81mCapital deployed

45 haUnder production by Year 5

R20.81mYear 5 net revenue

16.4%Year 5 EBITDA margin

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The plan reduces itself to four words on its own cover: water, and who you sell to.
Land is not the constraint in Limpopo — irrigation allocation is, and it is what sets the ceiling on the build from
8 hectares to 45. The second half matters just as much. South Africa’s fresh produce markets are efficient at
finding a price and expensive to sell through: agent commission and levies take R1.49 million out of
R22.30 million of Year 5 gross sales. Shifting the channel mix from 86 per cent agent-sold down to
58 per cent is worth more to this business than any plausible yield gain. The plan is also honest about the
climb: EBITDA is negative in Years 1 and 2, profit after tax until Year 4, and break-even needs 30.7 of the 45
hectares planted.

The plan at a glance

Six measures that determine whether this build and its funding stand up.

R12.81mCapital deployed over five yearsR1.95m founder equity, a R3.50m targeted Blended Finance grant and R9.50m of production, asset and Land Bank finance.

8 → 45 haUnder productionOf which tunnels rise from 1.0 to 4.5 hectares. Water allocation, not available land, sets the ceiling.

30.7 haBreak-even hectaresAgainst 45 planned by Year 5 — a margin of roughly 14 hectares, or about a third of the built area.

58%Sold via market agents at Year 5Down from 86%. Every point shifted to direct channels avoids commission and earns a premium.

R1.49mYear 5 commission and agent levyWhat the market channel costs on R22.30m of gross sales — which is why the channel mix is a strategic decision.

16.4%Year 5 EBITDA marginFrom minus 19.0% in Year 1, on net revenue of R20.81 million.

The two things that decide the outcome

What limits how much can be grown, and what determines how much of it the grower actually keeps.

WaterSets the ceilingAllocation, not available land, decides how many hectares can be planted. Every expansion gate in the plan is a water question first.

and

The channelSets the marginMarket agents take R1.49m of commission on Year 5 sales. Shifting from 86% to 58% agent-sold is how the grower keeps more of what it grows.

Five years of trading

Net revenue and EBITDA on the base case. Yield per hectare and the channel mix are the two assumptions that matter most, and both are stressed in Section 16.

Net revenue build, and the hectares behind it

Revenue is hectares multiplied by yield and price, net of market commission. Land under production rises from 8 to 45 hectares and output from 401 to 3,188 tonnes.

Year 1

R2.05m · 8.0 ha

Year 2

R4.23m · 14.5 ha

Year 3

R8.57m · 24.0 ha

Year 4

R14.03m · 34.5 ha

Year 5

R20.81m · 45.0 ha

EBITDA and margin, Year 3 onward

Years 1 and 2 run EBITDA deficits of R0.39m and R0.42m while the hectares are still below break-even scale. Profit after tax stays negative until Year 4.

Year 3

R0.33m · 3.8%

Year 4

R1.54m · 11.0%

Year 5

R3.42m · 16.4%

Why this plan works

Water is the ceiling, not landHectares can always be found; the allocation to irrigate them cannot. Every expansion gate in this plan is a water question before it is a capital question.

Commission is a strategic costMarket agents take R1.49 million on Year 5 gross sales. Moving from 86% agent-sold to 58% is worth more to the margin than any yield improvement the plan assumes.

Limpopo buys a winter windowThe province produces when colder regions cannot. That seasonal window is the reason for the location and the reason the crop calendar is built the way it is.

Open field and tunnels do different jobsTunnels carry higher capital and higher yield with lower weather risk; open field carries the volume. The plan runs both rather than pretending one answer fits.

Two loss-making years are funded, not hiddenEBITDA is negative in Years 1 and 2 and profit after tax until Year 4. Break-even needs 30.7 hectares, and the capital exists to reach it.

Financial snapshot

Four charts from the plan. The full set of twenty-four appears throughout the sections below.

Figure 3. Production value by system, with the commission and agent levy shown as the deduction it is, against the falling share sold through market agents.

Figure 17. Cash flow — operating cash turns positive in Year 4.

Twenty-two sections and five appendices. Every page carries full navigation, a section outline and links to the sections either side of it.

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Important NoticeBasis of preparation, data sources, forward-looking statement caveats and confidentiality terms. Please read first.

Appendices

Confidential. This document has been prepared in support of a funding proposal by
Green Master Vegetables and may not be reproduced or distributed without written consent. Projections are forward-looking
statements based on the assumptions registered in Appendix C and are not guarantees of future performance.