From the late 1940s, Norman Cuthbert worked in the wattle industry in Kenya, based at Kikuyu and then Eldoret. During the late 1950s, Tanganyika’s government and Colonial Development Corporation implemented a programme to improve the living conditions of the Wabena in the Southern Highland Province. Part of this entailed the establishment of wattle plantations in the Njombe region, with the advice and assistance of the East African Tanning Extract Company, which became agents for the newly created Tanganyika Wattle Company. Funding was also given under the Bena Wattle Scheme to help the local residents cultivate their own plantations. In 1959, a factory was built in Njombe to process the wattle crops, which were nearing maturity. Cuthbert accepted secondment to the Tanganyika Wattle Company as Factory Chemist to organise laboratory facilities and recruit staff to run them.