In July 2019, Seyi Beckley’s Phresh Farms Ltd., an agri-tech startup, actively marketed its offers to interested investors. Through its agents sent to court clients, the company attracted investors with a promised monthly Return on Investment (ROI) of 20 percent.
But recently, there have been complaints from investors who have neither recovered their capital nor the promised ROIs since May.
AN INVESTOR CONVINCED BY A PASTOR
“I was introduced to the investment in August, last year, by Adeola Adesina, who also happened to be a pastor. Initially, I had my doubts, but she assured me that it was a legitimate business, and that she had been working with the company as an agent for quite a while,” an investor, who asked not to be named, told FIJ.
“She also claimed to know its owner personally and that they regularly had meetings. She went out of her way to convince me to invest in the business. Because I knew her as a pastor, I decided to take a shot. She even assured me that if anything happened to my money, the risk was hers.”
Adesina also told the investor that the owner of the company was a well respected elderly man whose daughter was a close friend.
A BILLION NAIRA PROCESSING PLANT
The investor learned Fresh Farms was into cashew processing and exportation business. She was also told that the company was after more investors because it was planning to build a one billion naira processing plant.
“I invested several millions on hearing that the company’s payment structure would soon change from monthly 20 percent ROI to 30 percent ROI every three months. I thought if I was early enough, the 20 percent profit I’d made would count for something.”
However, in May, the huge capital began to count for nothing, because it did not produce any benefit for the investor. Phresh said that it was having trouble with his main bank account and that there could be no solution until June. It then promised to pay investors on June 8.