28 Aug
2021
28 Aug
'21
10:05 a.m.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: How we made it in Africa <info(a)howwemadeitinafrica.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2021 at 10:08
Subject: William, here are 11 entrepreneurs cashing in on Africa's
agribusiness opportunities
To: William Leschen <williamleschen(a)gmail.com>
African Business Growth Stories, Ideas and Trends, to help you pursue your
next big thing
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Africa-Business-In-A-Box: Importing from Africa Programme
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*11 entrepreneurs cashing in on Africa's agribusiness opportunities*
From exporting trendy superfoods to turning farming waste into organic
fertiliser, Africa offers numerous agribusiness opportunities to
entrepreneurs and investors. Here is a selection of 11 businesspeople,
interviewed by *How we made it in Africa* over the past year, who are
capitalising on the sector’s potential.
African *Business Growth Stories*, *Ideas* and *Trends*, to help you pursue
your next big thing Subscribe to *How we made it in Africa* now
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and receive a free copy of our five-star rated book (more info about book
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*1. Company taps into growing demand for superfood fonio* Fonio, the
ancient West African cultivated grass that produces small nutritious
grains, is gaining popularity as a superfood among health-conscious
consumers. Fonio is rich in amino acids, protein and iron, gluten-free and
has a low glycaemic index that makes it suitable for diabetics. It is
drought-resistant, can grow without the support of fertiliser and restores
organic matter in fallow soil. In Ghana, Abdulai A. Dasana and Salmal
Abdulai, founders of the AMAATI Group, recognised the potential of the crop
back in 2012. Read more: Ghanaian entrepreneurs build company that
processes fonio into cereal and flour for both the domestic and
international markets.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=fce607dcf2&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*2. Industrialising agriculture in Nigeria* In the early 1990s, Kola
Adeniji quit his job at Guinness Nigeria to start his own business, Niji
Lukas, a mechanical engineering service aimed at solving some of the
processing challenges faced by food manufacturers in the country. Thirty
years later, Adeniji has expanded this company into the diversified Niji
Group with various subsidiaries that not only manufacture agri-processing
equipment but are also involved in food processing, farming, the assembly
of tractors, agricultural training and hospitality. Through Niji Foods –
the agri-processing subsidiary – the group has the capacity to process 100
tonnes of cassava daily at an integrated cassava processing plant near its
4,000-acre farm in Ilero, Oyo State in south-west Nigeria. How Adeniji
established a business involved in everything from manufacturing
agri-processing equipment to farming and food production.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=737231caf3&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*3. Exporting coconuts from Côte d’Ivoire to Europe* Trading company Zatwa
sells Ivorian coconuts to clients abroad. It is one of the top five
exporters of coconuts in Côte d’Ivoire, shipping 20 containers each month
to around 15 countries. Zatwa has grown its turnover from €100,000 in 2017
to €1.5 million in 2020. Its eyes are now set on processing raw material to
get the most value rather than trading purely in unprocessed commodities. Read
Zatwa co-founder Mohamed Diaby's story of getting started in the
agri-commodity trading game.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=5e346b6587&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*4. Idea to commercialise a local pepper sauce becomes a listed food
company* Twenty-eight years ago, Leticia Osafo-Addo returned to her native
Ghana after studying as an anaesthetist and critical care therapist in
Germany. She never entered the medical field, instead choosing a different
path after recognising a gap in the market to commercialise the production
of a local pepper sauce: shito. The sauce is used as the main ingredient in
many of the country’s popular dishes. Learn how Osafo-Addo, founder of
Samba Foods, capitalised on increased demand for convenience food.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=9f6cd66e91&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*5. Turning overlooked croton nut into a cash crop* The tall and leafy
croton tree, found in East and Southern Africa, is most commonly used as
firewood and charcoal. While others previously saw more value in removing
the trees, Cosmas Ochieng, CEO of EcoFix Kenya, is carving out a business
turning the nuts into biofuel and various other added-value products such
as fertiliser, animal feed and cosmetics. Spotting value in croton nuts:
Ochieng's story.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=14a8af33ff&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*6. A brand of health and beauty products made from oil palm *J-Palm is an
agribusiness company founded by Mahmud Johnson in Liberia in June 2013. The
business supports smallholder farmers who harvest the fruits from
naturally-growing oil palms in their communities for oil production,
purchasing both the palm oil as well as the kernels left over as a
by-product. It then processes the kernels into palm kernel oil for its
range of consumer lifestyle products – soaps, moisturisers and hair
conditioners – under the brand Kernel Fresh. It also aggregates the crude
palm oil purchased from the smallholder farmers to sell on to retailers. Find
out how Johnson overcame initial scepticism and obstacles to grow the
company.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=b66d8e89b5&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*7. Ghana: Turning cocoa waste into organic fertiliser* Akwasi Osei-Bobie
Ansah had obtained a teaching degree after school but was always more
interested in agriculture. Back home in the village where his parents had
their fields, he had observed higher crop yields in areas where cocoa
shells were left to decompose. He realised that this waste product from
Ghana’s biggest export product could be channelled into making an organic
compost or fertiliser. Today, Farmers Hope products – the original organic
fertiliser (named Asaase Nofosuo) and an organic pesticide and fungicide –
are sold in both Ghana and Burkina Faso. Read more: Creating an organic
fertiliser company that supplies farmers in West Africa.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=f355abcded&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*8. Processing rice in Nigeria *The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many
lessons and challenges for entrepreneurs. For Abubakar Sadiq Falalu, the
health crisis has helped affirm one thing: he is in the right line of
business. Pandemic or not, people have to eat. Falalu runs a rice
production and milling venture in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria. His
company FaLGates Foods grows, processes, packs and sells parboiled rice to
its largely Nigerian clientele. 31-year-old Nigerian reveals how he
established his rice production business.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=bd24fb0ec2&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*9. Producing flour from millet grown in northern Namibia* Mahangu is a
hardy and drought-resistant pearl millet (a cereal grain that belongs to
the grass family). Entrepreneur Eben Ngula knew the majority of the people
living in the rural villages around his hometown of Ondangwa always have
excess mahangu that they look to sell to local millers to make flour.
“After harvest, they always have grain stored throughout the year. I
realised availability would not be a problem for a milling business,” Ngula
explains. It was while he was a production manager for Namibia Grape
Company in the south of the country near the Orange River, that Ngula
conceptualised and planned his venture. In June 2020, African Grain Millers
was founded. Full article: Entrepreneur quits job and moves back home to
start agribusiness venture.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=3a560d6b0f&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*10. Capitalising on a gap in the chilli market* In 2002, at the age of 25,
Margaret Komen landed her first export client for African bird’s eye chilli
powder from Kenya. What makes this feat remarkable is, at the time, Komen
did not have a registered company for the planned export. Nor did she know
where she was going to secure the chillies required to produce the powder.
She also had no start-up capital, no processing facility, and no experience
as a business owner. Over time, the company has become a major player with
clients in Spain, Italy, the UK, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and
South Korea. It currently exports five varieties of dried chilli in bulk to
pharmaceutical and food industry clients in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Exporting
chillies from Kenya: Agribusiness entrepreneur outlines her journey.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=e532e00e06&e=2c7f08cfb5>
*11. International market for hibiscus flowers from Nigeria* “Organic
hibiscus is grown in Africa – mainly in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Sudan.
When we started, there were a lot of trade restrictions in Sudan. They were
in the middle of a civil war. Essentially there was a global supply gap,”
says Timi Oke, co-founder of Nigerian export trading business AgroEknor.
Oke also knew that the big hibiscus growers in northern Nigeria were unable
to get their products out of the country as local traders did not want to
deal with the tension and unrest in the area. It was a gap AgroEknor could
capitalise on. The story of how Timi Oke and his partners built a company
that exports agricultural commodities from Africa to the world.
<https://howwemadeitinafrica.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=20e5aa382145c71e44612e38b&id=905f11e8f6&e=2c7f08cfb5>
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*SARNISSA African Aquaculture Network *
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*Aquaculture Enterprise Malawi*
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*SEAT Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade Asia (SEAT) *
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* See also Sustainable Aquaculture Group Stirling's activities and
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