Olumuyiwa Aiyegbusi, Chairman and CEO, Olu Olu Group of Companies, easily described as a serial entrepreneur has a multibillion business empire across continents with a niche market in agriculture value chain, where he has been a pioneer, enabler and early adopter of technology to transform local staples liker moi-moi, plantain chips, yam powder, palm wine into international brands. He spoke with Yetunde Oladeinde about the untapped goldmine in food and agribusiness.
To say that Olumuyiwa Aiyegbusi who sits atop as Chairman and CEO, Olu Olu Group of companies is a man of means is certainly stating the obvious. But then, he didn’t come about wealth overnight. He tells anyone who cares to listen that he was able to make good in life through dint of hard work. He toiled and toiled and today, he is glad that he made all the sacrifices that got him where he is today. As a way of giving back, he admonishes women, young people and other entrepreneurs to start looking inwards. He strongly believes that it is time to look at the opportunities and potentials, make a comparison of the situation instead of settling for white collar jobs.
Speaking with our correspondent on the sideline of the NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women Summit in Lagos recently, the Ekiti state-born seasoned entrepreneur who is also a consultant to many organisations both locally and internationally, said the agriculture is a goldmine yet untapped by many in the country.
“A lot of us are sitting in the office while the famers are becoming millionaires especially in the North, if we are not careful they would leave us behind and we need to do something fast about this. I am usually angry when I see people just walking around when there are so many opportunities around them. The first is that you can be comfortable working for other people but you can never be rich working for somebody.”
According to him, “You can do more as an employer and as a job creator. Have you ever heard of Tomapep? Where is it today, it is gone. But do you know that if you start making Tomapep today by next year, you would become a millionaire.”
Looking askance and wondering how you are you going to do this, as if reading your mind, Aiyebusi provides an answer: “You dry tomato, dry onion and you are already used to dry pepper and before you know it you have a good product. So, you start putting in a plain sachet and start with friends and family. You then start selling in open space, schools and in different places, before you know it you will be everywhere.”
The nation’s huge population almost 200 million, he says is the ready market. “All you need is just one per cent of that population. That is 2million and if you sell that sachet of tomapep for N50, and if you multiply that, it is about N100 million. If you are not stupid, you should be able to make at least 10 per cent profit. Women are women wonderful at the home front and they can do same to their businesses.”
To buttress his point about starting small and growing big, Aiyegbusi cites the case of a friend who was the pioneer maker of sachet water. “He started in 1983 from Aswani and we were laughing at him at that time. Today, the business is everywhere, from Nigeria to Cameroon and Sierra Leone, the water business is over a hundred billion.
“I tell people that our problem is not making computers now, our problem is feeding ourselves and making money out of it. In the last few years, agriculture accounts for almost 25 per cent of our GDP, but it could double that. We have three streams in the agric value chain, that includes the upstream, midstream and downstream. Downstream is the supermarket, Mile 12 market and upstream is the harvesters and farmers.”
Happily, Aiyebusi goes on to tell you where he falls into in the sector. “I operate in the midstream. This is when a person takes yam from the farm, loads it and drops it at Mile 12. Midstream is when you take tomatoes from the farm and do something to it before it gets to the downstream.”
He goes on to tell you that Nigeria is number one in ten produce and the nation is so blessed. “We are number one in yam and cassava. We are number two in Soya beans and Sorghum. Even in the rice that we import, we are number 16 and number 14 in maize.”
Unfortunately, he explained that Nigerians are not maximising the benefits of the resources that they have. “Just like the Yoruba saying, Akotileta. Nigerians like to export what it doesn’t have and import what it has. That is a paradox. We have crude oil but we import petrol. We don’t have electricity but we use to export electricity to Ghana and Benin Republic. What you don’t have, you export.”
To get out of the woods, Aiyegbusi informed that we must add value to the resources God has blessed us with. “My belief has been that shipping raw materials abroad would not make us rich. But adding value would make us rich.”
To buttress his point, Aiyebusi goes on to cite figures and the opportunities available. “Cocoa for example, Ivory Coast is the largest importer of cocoa and in a year it earns $2.5 billion. However the guy that makes chocolate bars turns this to about $10.5 billion. For cashew, we are the second largest producer but the Asians come here, pack it and it goes for about N600,000 per tonne. They take it to India, Vietnam and they do very simple things to it and at the end turns to something worth $10 million.”
The seasoned entrepreneur and consultant goes on to talk about some of the opportunities being wasted in the sector. “On tomatoes, yam and onions, Nigeria loses about N10 trillion every year. So, why don’t you just take part of this and add value to it. What this means is that we have to be farmers in the midstream sector. For tomates, just dry it and make tomato paste. You can also make packaged kilishi.”
He goes on to talk about his personal experience and how hard work, dedication and perseverance made him conquer the terrain. “On pounded yam alone, my company turns over N10 million every month. I also produce Ipekere (plantain chips). When I wanted to go into its production about 15 years ago, my friends were laughing at me. They said I liked too much wahala, don’t you have enough money.”
Determined Aiyegbusi started with the production of plantain chips and it is quality plantain chips because he was dealing with the international market. “The first container took me six to seven months to sell but I didn’t give up. Right now, as I speak to you, the business has expanded and my children run it. We send to countries like South Africa and Columbia. Every month I sell six containers, each container of plantain chips is worth N15 million and on each the profit is N3.6 million. In Africa, the easiest way now is through agriculture.”
He continued: “You can be comfortable working for other people but you can never be rich working for other people.”
It’s easy to assume that Aiyegbusi have had everything on a platter of gold. But he says he had a humble beginning. The younger Aiyegbusi who tried to study medicine without success later studied Chemical Engineering both as first and second degrees from Central state University, Wilberforce, Ohio, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and University of Louisiana, Louisiana, all in the United States.
After several attempt in various fields of engineering which did not meet with success, he brought the knowledge he acquired from the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), during his Youth Corps Service year into play.
Aiyegbusi established Olu Olu Industries (Nigeria) Limited in 1986. The company’s activities involved pioneering processing of bottled palm juice drink with export to the United Kingdom and West African countries. Two years later, instant pounded yam flour was added and became an immediate success worldwide. Yem Yom Ventures was registered in 1987 as a sole-proprietorship, acting as the sole international distributor for Olu Olu Industries (Nigeria) Limited. Year 2000 brought into being the incorporation of United Tastes of Africa Inc in United States of America with Aiyegbusi as President.
In the past 20 years Yem Yom has spread the reach of Olu Olu products (Cassava Starch Flour-Fufu), Yam Flour (pounded yam), processed black-eye beans, canned products (Egusi Stew, Moin Moin- Sponge Bean cake, etc) across five continents.
Aiyegbusi sits on the Board of numerous companies too many to detail here. He has won many awards and accolades from his grassroots in Efon Allaye all the way to the UK and the USA. Notable among these are, President, Efon Alaaye UK and Europe Association, 2002-, The Nigerian Entrepreneur Award 2003 by The Nigerian Achievers Awards Institute, UK; The Nigerian Business Personality Award (UK) 2000 by Oasis Promotions Inc and Globe Ventures Ltd; The African International Business Person Award (UK) 1999 by National Westminster Bank UK & Western Union UK and several others.
With the massive wave of graduates entering the labour market, it is hard for job growth to keep up with the skyrocketing demand for jobs. Furthermore, many graduates lack the skills to communicate effectively with employers and find jobs in their field of study.