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GreenPot UPDATE 1 A SNAPSHOT OF WHAT’S GOING ON AT GREENPOT ENTERPRISES TODAY Over the past three months, GreenPot’s activities in the bamboo sector have intensified significantly, confirming the company’s position as the foremost private sector player in Kenya’s emerging bamboo revolution. It started with the entry into Trans Mara - a unique zone in the larger Narok county where huge possibilities exist for bamboo farming, with large tracks of land available in areas with optimal climatic and soil conditions. We have access to thousands of acres mainly under the lease option through which our stakeholders enjoy long- term leases of up to 30 years in parks that are subdivided into 10-acre parcels. In the next one month, we aim to launch our Corporate Parks initiative in Trans Mara through which employees CHAMPIONS OF KENYA’S BAMBOO REVOLUTION Participants at the conference on commercialisation of bamboo , held in Nyeri. TURN TO PAGE 2 GreenPot UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2015 “We are not walking alone. Governments and numerous global organizations are deeply engaged in the promotion of bamboo farming. They all see its crucial role in our people’s economic empowerment, and the safeguarding of the environment.”

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Page 1: GreenPot UPDATEgreenpotenterprises.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GreenPot-Ne… · GreenPot UPDATE 3 A number of Greenpot stakeholders have already received their title deeds since

GreenPot UPDATE 1

A S N A P S H O T O F W H A T ’ S G O I N G O N A T G R E E N P O T E N T E R P R I S E S T O D A Y

Over the past three months, GreenPot’s activities in the bamboo sector have intensified significantly, confirming the company’s position as the foremost private sector player in Kenya’s emerging bamboo revolution.

It started with the entry into Trans Mara - a unique zone in the larger Narok county where huge possibilities exist for bamboo farming, with large tracks of land available in areas with optimal climatic and soil conditions.

We have access to thousands of acres mainly under the lease option through which our stakeholders enjoy long-term leases of up to 30 years in parks that are subdivided into 10-acre parcels.

In the next one month, we aim to launch our Corporate Parks initiative in Trans Mara through which employees

CHAMPIONS OF KENYA’S BAMBOO REVOLUTION

Participants at the conference on commercialisation of bamboo , held in Nyeri.

TURN TO PAGE 2

GreenPot UPDATE SEPT

EMBE

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“We are not walking alone. Governments and numerous global organizations are deeply engaged in the promotion of bamboo farming. They all see its crucial role in our people’s economic empowerment, and the safeguarding of the environment.”

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GreenPot UPDATE2

of Kenya’s most progressive companies will co-own entire parks, some as large as 500 acres. This will be through highly-customized packages that are bound to create havens of economic empowerment combined with immense opportunities for leisure activities.

We have already started setting up nurseries in the Logorian area, just a few kilometers from the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. A massive 10-million-litre dam has already been constructed and the greenhouses will soon be up.

The other major development in GreenPot’s bamboo mission is the entry into Central Kenya.It all started with an invitation by the Kenya Water Towers Agency to be keynote speakers at the Bamboo County Investment Forum that brought together top officials from five counties in the central Kenya region - Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua and Meru - in mid-August.

The company’s presentation centered on the establishment of large-scale bamboo nurseries, management of bamboo plantations, promotion and support of bamboo farming among communities, and the forthcoming bamboo factories.

The meeting ended with a clear message that Central Kenya was ready to begin its engagement with commercial bamboo farming, and that GreenPot will be the leading player in the entire value chain, from the nurseries to the plantations and the factories.

In order to safeguard this position, we have already started setting up nurseries to service this area, along with the establishment of a training and resource centre which will be in operation by end of September. The team to run the Central Kenya operation has already been recruited and are raring to go.

We will work closely with the county governments, national agencies such as the Kenya Water Towers Agency and Kenya Forest Service, and influential Community-based organizations to ensure that the Central Kenya bamboo

mission is executed with speed and precision.

We will tell you more about our entry into other regions of Kenya in the next bulletin.

We at GreenPot feel truly blessed to be key participants in the bamboo revolution, and we are delighted that you are with us on this exciting journey.

We are not walking alone. County governments, the Government of Kenya and many of its agencies, as well as numerous regional and global organizations are deeply engaged in the promotion of bamboo. They all see its crucial role in our people’s economic empowerment, and the safeguarding of the environment.

The global initiatives are largely driven by the need to find more sustainable sources of wood mass but experts also particularly love bamboo for its green attributes. With its usefulness in soil conservation, the ability to sustain riverbanks and to provide windbreaks, coupled with almost magical ability to cleanse the air we breathe, it is no wonder bamboo is commonly referred to as the Climatic Change Warrior.

Smile, you are in one of the most profoundly enriching journey you can ever hope to be part of.

FROM PAGE 1

Site of the Mt Kenya nurseries, which will serve seven counties in the Central Kenya region and Upper Eastern. Construction of a 10-million litre dam in Trans Mara.

Visitors at a part in Narok.

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GreenPot UPDATE 3

A number of Greenpot stakeholders have already received their title deeds since the first batch became available way back in June.

This means that even as the bamboo grows and the forests take shape, our stakeholders are delighted to be sure that the land on which the parks stand belongs to them.

This is a significant landmark in our journey considering that the title deed is a major promise in GreenPot’s schedule of activities.

We are processing the titles on a continuing basis, and very soon, every stakeholder in the purchase option will have have a title in their pockets, while those in the lease option will be holding a duly executed lease document.

We already have received the first master leases duly registered to Greenpot Enterprises Limited, having gone through the due process that included appearance at the full Land Board session in Narok.

Your title is here

Introducing the corporate parks

GreenPot CEO Carol Kariuki and Sales Executive Mary Gathoni present a title deed to Tim Manyuira of Tandem & Stark.

There is a fundamental shift in the CSR activities of many Corporates - from merely having an occasional handout to something more meaningful, engaging and with a long term social impact.

The Exclusive Greenpot Corporate Parks introduces a novel way for companies to engage their employees in a long term CSR programme that ensures that they will treasure their relationship with the organization for a long time to come.

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS: The employees invest in a bamboo park - through purchase or lease - that is exclusively co-owned with their colleagues, giving them three key advantages:

• They can customize the size of individual parcels as they wish as long as the employees take up the entire park, rather than going for the usual packages (minimum two acres for the purchase option and five acres for the lease option)

• They can customize facilities and activities within the park to suit the team building, leisure, and other needs of the organization. For example, they can choose to set up cottages, camp sites, quad bike trails, and so on, for exclusive use by the employees, their families, and their friends.

• The organization gets to brand the park and name it after itself or an important member of their fraternity.

Besides, this provides an opportunity for companies to contribute to Kenya’s target of achieving a 10% tree cover by the year 2020 while offering an unparalleled investment opportunity to the employees - one that they will treasure for ever.

The Corporate Parks range in size from as low as 50 acres to as high as 1000 acres. Exciting payment and financing terms can be arranged.

Call us today and let's discuss this great opportunity.

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GreenPot UPDATE4

In June, Greenpot directors travelled to India on a tour meant to shed light on the different possibilities regarding the set up of a bamboo factory.Even though the team had earlier been to numerous factories in China, it was felt that there were important similarities between India and Kenya, therefore making India’s lessons quite poignant.

The main factory the team visited, in the far-flung state of Tripura, uses hybrid technology from four different countries - Germany, Japan, China and India - to manufacture high quality flooring and outdoor decking.There were many lessons learnt here, but today we will talk about just two:

One, even though the state of Tripura has a whooping

MANY LESSONS FROM INDIA VISIT

Directors Mundia Muchiri and Kigen Kandie practice for the hard task of bamboo harvesting during the visit to India.

Bamboo fences are a very common feature of rural India

Processing bamboo for flooring

Harvesting and transporing bamboo is big business, and employs huge numbers of people.

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GreenPot UPDATE 5

MANY LESSONS FROM INDIA VISIT

60 percent of its land under forest cover (compared to Kenya’s paltry 7 per cent), they still find it necessary to run elaborate campaigns to promote bamboo farming.

If those with so much wood all around them can be so keen on using more of their prime land on bamboo, how much more viable is it for us who have such a low forest cover?

Two, bamboo promotion is a big concern of state and national governments out there. The Tripura Bamboo Mission, for example, has an elaborate plan for the promotion of bamboo, ranging from exploitation of natural forests to establishment of new plantations and promotion of cottage industries.

They have set up an elaborate bamboo industrial park in order to encourage investors to set up bamboo processing facilities in one well-serviced location, while in the country side, they have organized villagers to produce gift items, crafts, Designer Handbags, Decorative Items and so on.

Craft making at a community centre in India.

GreenPot CEO Carol Kariuki and director Kigen Kandie listen keenly to a factory expert during a tour of a bamboo floor making factory in Tripura, India.

Bamboo fences are a very common feature of rural India

Processing bamboo for flooring

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GreenPot UPDATE6

GreenPot’s nurseries at Eoro-Ekule, near Narok town, remain the pride of our operations, with the sheer number of seedlings and the sophistication of the operation becoming a showcase of GreenPot’s efficiency.

In preparation for the new planting season - which is just beginning in some of the parks, particular up in Olorropil - we have close to a million seedlings in various stages of readiness.

We have initiated a number of developments at the nursery site, including construction of staff houses that can accommodate up to 15 people.

The nurseries are a major employer of local people, and we are proud of the skills transfer that has seen many of the young people become versatile in a wide range of tasks.

Towards a million seedlings

Marketing activitiesThe last couple of months have been quite eventful for our marketing team.

ELDORET HOMES EXPOWe braved the heavy rainfall in Uasin Gishu County so that we could spread our message to the farmers and the investors at the Homes Expo in Eldoret. The county has very good climatic and soil conditions for Bamboo farming. We aim to carry out more activities in this region in the coming days.

LAND EXPO Land is our business. That is why were present at the Annual Lands Expo held at Visa Oswal from July 3-5, 2015. The team got an opportunity to introduce GreenPot’s unique proposition to different land owners and prospective investors.

IMPALA CLUBIf we have not been to your sports club yet, we will be knocking that door very soon. In July, we were invited to the club night at Impala Club. The GreenPot team shared a mbuzi with the members and got a chance to take the jovial crowd through the GreenPot investment proposition.

THURSDAY PRESENTATIONS We have been holding regular presentations at the All Saints Cathedral on alternate Thursdays. These events have continued to draw scores of people. Find out when the next one is coming and bring a friend to hear about the bamboo revolution.

Government officials on a visit to the Narok nurseries.

Staff houses under construction at the nurseries.

Preparing roads at the nursery using a Bobcat. We also use this versatile piece of equipment to dig holes for planting bamboo in some of the parks

The workers at the nurseries have become very adept at performing their tasks

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GreenPot UPDATE 7

After a two-month break occasioned by the cessation of the rains, planting has now resumed, and is expected to go on for the next two months.

But we have been preparing for this moment. We have cleared vast tracks of land, dug the holes, gathered manure and we are now ferrying the seedlings to complete the planting exercise.

By end of September, we expect to have planted another

500 acres.“We are all set and very happy that the rains have come on time. Our workers have become polished at this, and the pace is very good,” says Ben Kiruti, one of the GreenPot’s foresters.

Bamboo grows rather slowly in the first year as the rhizomes find their place in the soil, but after that the forest takes shape very quickly. We are glad the journey has started in earnest.

The planting has resumed

Over the past month, we have been fitting out our office in Narok town, and now it’s all ready with new staff - Jennifer Naitutae and Mercy Chilchil.

This will be the coordinating base for our operations in the county, and provides a central location for those who want to find out more about our bamboo activities.

The office is located on the ground floor of the Olturet Mall, the sparkling new development that has redefined the centre of Narok town.

This will be an important base for our community outreach activities. An integral part of our strategy is to ensure that for every acre of bamboo planted in our gated communities program, there is a corresponding acre planted by members of the local communities so that we grow together.

In August, we intensified our community outreach

activities, working together with the Narok county officials, who are quite passionate about the bamboo initiative.

We aim to have 2000 acres planted by the community by December this year. Our engagement includes a program that finances the supply of seedlings.

Narok office is now open

Some of the bamboo that was planted four months ago is already forming clumps

Loading seedlings for transportation to the parks. We have built special trailer racks for transporting the seedlings and have acquired a four--wheel-drive tractor to ensure we can

reach the farms in spite of the rains.

The Narok office is already very busy

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The Greenhouse, West Wing • 2nd Floor, Suite 10 • P. O. Box 315 00618 Ruaraka • Tel: 0737 933 955, 0729 933 955 • 0721 593 211Email: [email protected] •www.greenpotenterprises.com

@greenpotke Green Pot Entreprises

In July, GreenPot was one of the companies selected to exhibit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in the run up to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that was graced by American President Barack Obama.

Our stand was an experiential display of bamboo's magical possibilities, with much of the space being made out of bamboo.There was an overwhelming response to our displays and presentations, with many of the visitors being cleared awed by GreenPot's unique proposition.

We aim to participate in a number of forthcoming forums to ensure the GreenPot message continues to spread far and wide.

GreenPot at the pre-GES exhibition

The Greenpot team is growingA number of new members of staff have recently joined the GreenPot family as we prepare for the journey ahead.

We've also made imprtant changes at the board level where Mr Linus Gitahi, who has just left the Nation Media Group after nine years as the Group CEO, becomes the new chairman. Mr Mundia Muchiri, one of the company's founding directors, is now the Executive Director with responsibilities centered on business development.

The new staff include Mr Erick Maingi, who is head of

corporate sales, Mr Edmond Machoki, a tree biotechnology expert attached to the Narok nurseries, Mr Silvester Mwanzia, head of the Mt Kenya nurseries, Mr Andrew Mwaura, the Business Development Manager for the Mt Kenya Region, and Mr Ben ole Kiruti, a forester attached to the Narok GreenPot plantations who also supports community extension services.

A project manager has been identified and will join the group from November to lead the effort towards the establishment of factories.

Marketing Director Kuki Njeru receives a visitor at GreenPot’s stand during the pre-GES exhibition at the KICC. Notice the bamboo features, including the wall panels and the floor.