INTERVIEWER: it is an honor to have you here.
I have had to watch you on international media where you talked about Agriculture, a field where a lot of us as been running away from and it is amazing that as beautiful as you are, you are in that field.
Welcome ma, how are you
Guest: thank you.
INTERVIEWER: I learnt people call Agriculture life, to you ma is Agriculture life, what is Agriculture?
GUEST: well, I will take it to the next level, I will say food is life because you need food to survive, those are one of the basic things you need to survive on earth. You need to eat, plants need to eat, animals need to eat and Agriculture is centered round people, plants and animals. So Agriculture is life.
INTERVIEWER: way back in 1988 you ventured into food as it is but you read public administration. What brought you into Agriculture, who introduced you to that path?
GUEST: ok, when I started my career as a manager in 1988 with Leventis group, I was drafted into the retail section where it was mostly about food. Then the old leventis stores had like 15 departmental stores nationwide , like the wholesales, electrical… But food counters constituted about 80% of the floor display stands. I focused on food division.
INTERVIEWER: do you like to eat food while growing up?
GUEST: (laugh) I love good food (both laugh) but you see my experiences in food retail is really what made me decide that I have to backward integrate in the sector. At times you wander why some food
Last longer than the other or why some are more nourishing than the other and the only way to find that out is going back to the root of how those products were made and that is Agriculture.
INTERVIEWER: from there?
GUEST: it was actually a long journey because I rose through the ranks. When I started although I started as a trainee. The things I did then also helped me because I voluntarily monitored cash tills and inventory management, and I was active in customer service, packing products for customers pricing and receipting. I learnt a lot and then I rose from there gradually, got promoted to merchandise manager, it was a gradual climb because during that period too I started having children, go on maternity leave and come back. I was head of sales and marketing by the time I was leaving Leventis in 2004. By then I was heading the bakery division. The brand we had then was Value bread and I remembered we started producing and marketing 2000 loaves a day to 70000 loaves a day. Those were the things that made me feel that i can do it. Because I have been in food all along, it was easy for me when the Federal Government started the Agric transformation agenda to latch onto the dream of the then Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Doc. Akinwunmi Adesina. They invited the top five heads of food processing companies to Abuja, this was December 2011 to talk to us about their dreams and plans for the Agric transformation agenda and how the food industries could help so that crops can be processed into
Raw materials, specifically we were focusing on Cassava flour to blend wheat flour just to crash the price of bread and make life better for the average Nigerian. I worked with the ministry of Agriculture team, and for handful of years. I realized there was so much work to be done, so much terrain I had to go through. I have sold food and products all my life, now I realized how they are made, now I know opportunity and innovative ways that I can actually use to develop that food market. That’s when you can truly say you are an institution and that yes am the authority, I can talk conveniently about different value chains and i’m grateful to stakeholders in the sector who have given me a lot of opportunities to participate in different projects because from every project you learn a lesson. Now when I enter a store, I want to shop for my house. I know the variety of tomatoes am going to pick because I know the ones that will last longer in this climate, I know the kind of vegetables am going to pick because I know the vitamins I need to get by each one so that by the end of the day preparing nourishing meal for myself and family.
Without any prompting by the special grace of God I was also contacted by an international company called Informer middle east, they are the world largest exhibition company, they operate in about 150 countries. They approached me that they wanted me to work with them as program director. I signed the contract with them, believe me
Since that 2015 there’s been no looking back. Our post – show reports have shown that in term of attendees, in terms of exhibitors we’ve grown by nothing less than 40 percent year on year. If not for covid that didn’t let us have a physical show last year it would have been another success story but we had a digital day and we introduced new way of communicating with our community. We have monthly webinars and months that there are top stories in the Agric sector, we throw in free webinars to give them tools. This is our own way of contributing to the society.
At the end of the year by November we now have a physical exhibition
INTERVIEWER: when you have the exhibition, who are companies or individuals that you invite, are they purely stakeholders?
GUEST: well yes, what we do is we have a platform where people can go online to register for the conferences every year
INTERVIEWER: where do you usually hold the conferences
GUEST: land mark event center in Lagos.
INTERVIEWER: do you know you can have exhibition on social media like zoom where you can have more participants?
GUEST : yea, for this year we are going to be sending out zoom link to those that can not be here physically. But because people want to have an experience of produces, some of them want to test run the tractors and other equipments that we have that is why they want to come.
INTERVIEWER: what is your favorite crops that generates desired income?
GUEST: ginger, it generates desired income and it is also
Good for the body. Ginger is a global crop because it is used globally.
INTERVIEWER: what type of farming do we have in this part of the world, Nigeria? I will like you to state them because of people that are watching us that are really interested in agriculture or investing in agricultural.
GUEST: in the beginning we had subsistence farming but things have step up and with mechanization there is a lot farmers can achieve because farmers income and wealth is very important. If you farm with hoe and cutlass you can’t be rich, even if you are rich you will be so tired to spend your money. A lot of organizations have helped African to move their farmers from subsistence to mechanized systems. Apart from this two, we have big commercial farms who produce produce for big processing companies. Manufacturing companies now have their own farms.
INTERVIEWER: what are some of the impediment you encountered on your way up
GUEST: I love that question because you sent me back to so many years (laugh)
INTERVIEWER :(laugh), as anything changed?
GUEST : yes, the journey to the top is not easy for a woman but it is becoming easier now because there are a lot of awareness and togetherness among women. My journey to the top was not easy because as a woman, sometimes you need to prove yourself and work like two times harder than the man for your voice to respected. When I was growing up in my career I had to go on maternity leave three times and when I come back it’s like starting again because
whatever space you find yourself, someone else fill that space before you come back so you have to work so hard to really get back into the group and when you return for the first few months you close early again as a nursing mother so there won’t be any major responsibilities assigned to you in that period. That made it a bit tough and slow down the journey but ultimately I got to the peak.
INTERVIEWER: what did you do to still remain where you are and what you are?
GUEST: like when I stepped aside as chief executive of the company I was heading in 2013, the first thing I did was to go on a course to sharpen my computer skills. I had to look for the latest applications that I will use for presentations.
INTERVIEWER : Ma, what effort has the government made available in making farming more attractive?
GUEST :I don’t work with the government but I know there is a platform where government take part of the risk if you want to apply for an Agricultural loan and that’s a good initiative. You don’t need to bring too much for you to stand to get the funding you require. Something else the government has done is a lot of advocacy, on the television. There is so much of talk, enlightenment on Agriculture and that exposes young people and also entice them to Agriculture.
INTERVIEWER: for the benefit of those watching you and would like to be part of the next exposé, what do they do?
GUEST:you can go online, and just google agra innovate west Africa 2021. It’s coming up in November on the 23rd at the land mark event center God willing. When you come there you are going to see all the stakeholders in agriculture globally , we pray by then that covid will be a thing of the past. You can register online, it’s free.
When you register online, you will benefit from our free newsletter monthly and webinar videos that can shed more light on how you can benefit from agra innovate in West Africa.
INTERVIEWER: how can people in the diaspora tap into the agriculture sector of Nigeria?
GUEST: so many ways, you can participate first by accessing all the literatures you need because it is good you know the rules of the game before you venture into it. So go online to and get all that information. Go to www._agrainnovatewestafrica.com
INTERVIEWER: what advice will you give to an individual that is just coming into Agriculture and wants to make something great out of it?
GUEST: just be focused and make up your mind that you are coming into it with a large heart so that you are in the right frame of mind to learn, to be patient and watch your produce grow and your business develop.
And for women, I just want to tell you that you can do it. I want ladies to be confident in themselves. Don’t settle for less.
INTERVIEWER :Ma any advice for the government or request (laugh)
GUEST : if the government can do more in improving the security of the country, everybody will be happier.
INTERVIEWER :thank you so much wonderful people watching. I have learnt too
I think I should be a farmer or what do you think.
GUEST :you can (laugh) why not
INTERVIEWER :that’s it for today wonderful people, I’ve been with my friend, Folusho Olaniyan, OON She is a member, officer of the order of Niger, Federal Republic of Nigeria. A program director agra innovate west Africa. Eminent personality she is, she has worked so hard to climb the ladder and she is still climbing the ladder.
Congratulations on all the achievements you have recorded.
GUEST:thank you
INTERVIEWER: am watching you so are other beautiful people out there watching you.
GUEST:thank you.
INTERVIEWER: I pray to Almighty God to grant you long life to enable you do much more.
GUEST: thank you
INTERVIEWER: thank you so much.
Wonderful people, that will be it for today on the program.