Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

An Ogun State-based agro entrepreneur, Seun Adegoke is set to make a large yearly turnover, after implementing a radically different method of cultivation, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Choosing to go into agri-business is a noble decision yet a difficult one to make. Farmers could easily go out of business if the weather suddenly changes, or if the supply of good quality seeds goes low. But  the  Managing Director of Skapomah Global Limited (SGL) Farms, Mr Seun Adegoke, thought none of it, and instead put his hard work into farm business.

He has established a crowd farming platform where he has pulled investors to support  his  2,000-hectare farm in Anigbado, Abeokuta-Imeko Road, Yewa North Local Government, Ogun State.

His platform had been slowly growing in popularity. His goal is to assist many Nigerians looking for new ways to make sure they could access fresh and quality food.

Thousands of hectares  are  cultivated with rice, maize, cassava, tomatoes, cucumber, water melon, Yams. The principal focus of the farm according to him is rice cultivation.

Towards the realisation, several boreholes were visibly sunk and an earth dam built for trapping water for irrigation. One advantage is has is deploying technology that allows new experiences for consumers, stable income for farmers, and that rethinks the whole cultivation, harvest, and logistic process.

He is integrating  technology into agriculture activities.

For him, technology and innovation represent an opportunity to address the issues of the agricultural industry – such as loss of interest in food production, growing urbanisation and shrinking farmlands.

His mission is to help farmers to activate their land’s potential and to represent agriculture as a noble profession.

He wants  to see young Nigerians  choose farming as a way to prosperity.

Several farm machinery as John DeereTractors and implements ploughs, harrows, planters, ferilisers and boom sprayers adorn the farm.Land preparation is intense especially as rainfall, though delayed has set in. The variety of rice cultivation, Faro 44, in the area under irrigation is almost ready for harvest. The farm according to Adegoke is lucky there are no challenges with pest birds. There are, however, challenges from herdsmen who encroach the farms with their animals. Through irrigation, the farm intends cultivating rice at least twice a year. He then divided the land into small segments and calculated the investment made, labour cost, and the profit gained from each part. This gave him a clear idea of the economics of the farm.

He  planted different crops in each segment to calculate the exact ‘investment versus profit’ ratio of each harvest. This helped him to decide what crops should be planted next.  Initially, he faced his share of challenges.

He found themselves beset by the usual problems of farmers: low farm yields, high costs, and low farmgate prices.

Part of being an agri-entrepreneur is learning how to be productive by choosing the right kind of seeds,” he  explains.

Availability of labour was another big issue as workers preferred to migrate to work in factories. He decided to switch to modern farm equipment, which were not so labour intensive. An example of the equipment used is  an   air condition tractor.

He was no stranger to long hours of working in the fields under the scorching heat, but what he could not believe was how farmers would remain poor – or worse – become poorer. He  wanted to change the ending to his own story.

He  had to learn everything from tilling the land to sowing the seeds. To promote   income revolution, he  explained that  the government has to do a lot  in releasing  land and resources that can be shifted to higher-value.

Farmers,he  stressed  need efficiencies in productivity and reduced costs of production.

One strategy that worked wonders for him is finding a way  round his farm needs  to conserve  funds.

Her relentless drive and thirst for constant innovation kept him on track

Over the years, he acquired more land and now grows  rice, maize and tomato on huge  acreage.

Yearly, he attends agribusiness fora  to keep himself up-to-date on the latest agricultural technologies.

According to him, Nigeria is a large producer of agricultural products.

So for the sector  to keep growing, he  noted that  it would be important for farmers to have easy access to the technology and resources that will serve them best.

He continues his efforts to promote agri-businesses as a sustainable and profitable opportunity for the population. “We’ve got a long way to go in our efforts to revolutionise agriculture – our company is still a startup,” he said.

Though he employs  hundreds of people,  he has been  procuring  the best technology to stay ahead of the competition.

 

Promoting and sustaining entrepreneurship should be an integral part of the government’s National Development Plan, if it is to speed up growth and job creation, the Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN) has said.

In an interview, its President, Prince Saviour Iche, argued that entrepreneurship was vital to  growth and promoting inclusion. Therefore, imploring the government to prompt policy and structural developments to promote entrepreneurship, build capacity and foster entrepreneurial thinking  should start at the educational level.

He lamented that the border closure affected small businesses following ban of cargo movement.

He said: “Many of the foreigners who used to visit us in Nigeria to buy goods they don’t have in their countries no longer come again. During the lockdown, some of those consumers took time to build capacities to produce those goods they were buying from us. It was a big blow for SMEs here.”

Iche added that a lot of SMEs did not benefit from the palliatives given by federal and state governments. According to him, small business owners were still lamenting that they could not access the N50 billionTargeted Credit Facility (TCF) meant to support MSMEs whose economic activities were significantly disrupted by the pandemic.

He told The Nation that many small business owners complained about the challenges in obtaining or applying for loans. Several applicants, according to him, complained about not being able to open accounts or access the facilities and others about making inquiries without responses.

Besides this, Iche said small and medium manufacturers were facing raw material challenges.Though they operate cottage businesses, he explained that cosmetic and personal care enterprises mostly rely on imported raw materials as a source of production. So far, he continued that increased prices of raw materials have made it difficult for SMEs to carry out production despite the demand in the market.

Iche stressed the need to help broaden the finance options available to SMEs and entrepreneurs, noting that start-up firms, in particular, are finding it difficult to borrow money from banks, and the capital requirements have made the situation more challenging.

He maintained that many SMEs borrow money by paying high rates of interest or offering costly collateral, which hinders their growth. He said the situation has left entrepreneurs behind in achieving success in the development.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, in collaboration with the Project Management Institute (PMI), is boosting entrepreneurship skills for growth-oriented startups, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is partnering the Project Management Institute (PMI) to support entrepreneurs and tech startups scale up by focusing on building skills for business generation.

To this end, both organisations are partnering on PMI’s six-part series on “Idea to Reality: Project Management for SMEs”.   Each part holds monthly, and at the end, certificates will be issued to participants.

The first session entitled: “Idea to Reality: Project Management for SMEs” held last year.

Speaking during the fifth session, entitled “Idea to Reality: Power Skills”, the Business Development Lead, Africa, MI, George Asamani, urged entrepreneurs to up their skills.

A Harvard University study, according to him, found that,” as much as 85 per cent of job success comes from having well developed people-centered capabilities – what we have often called “soft skills.”

As technology continues to automate more routine parts of work, he maintained that a higher premium would be placed on talent who can effectively communicate, collaborate, and lead teams. In view of the critical role that small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) play in any nation’s economic development,Asamani said, it had become imperative that business owners leverage such power skills to optimise their performance.

He added: “Technical skills, involving the use of knowledge and tools to complete high-level tasks, will always be an essential component of work. But the ways we work are also shifting rapidly, as technologies like artificial intelligence automate routine parts of work and practices like citizen development demystify practices like coding which were previously only accessible to those with highly technical skill sets.”

He implored business owners to think about how they could build and engage an employee base that is ready to tackle the digital transformations.

According to him, PMI has developed the Talent Triangle, a model for the ideal project manager skill set that includes a mixture of the capabilities needed to succeed. He explained: “The talent triangle focuses on the areas of leadership, technical project management, and strategic and business management. Each part of the triangle is of equal importance. “When you consider the challenges of the unpredictable nature of entrepreneurship and the technical skills versus power skills debate, you realise that technical skills are not enough neither are power skills.You need both to thrive on your entrepreneurial journey.”

Asamani works with PMI’s network in Sub-Saharan Africa and a global team to engage with corporate and educational institutions across sectors – offering project solutions that develop skills, drives efficiency and deliver impact on the continent.

He is also co-founder and entrepreneur mentor for London Business School’s Accel Awards initiative, which supports early stage entrepreneurs in Africa with grants, mentors and access to international markets.