Nigerians consume more than 5 million metric
tons of rice every year, with a significant portion of its
consumption needs sourced from imports. Rotimi Williams, an ambitious 35
year-old Nigerian entrepreneur and rice farmer, is on a quest to change that.
Williams, a former journalist, is the owner
of Kereksuk Rice Farm, the second largest commercial rice farm in Nigeria
by land size. His farm, which is situated in Nasarawa state in northern
Nigeria, currently sits on 45,000 hectares and employs more than 600 natives of
Nasarawa.
I recently caught up with the budding
entrepreneur in Lagos, and had a brief chat with him where he recounted his
journey and mused on how Nigeria can attain self-sufficiency in rice production
in the near future.
What’s your educational and professional
background?
I attended King’s College in Lagos. After
attending secondary school at King’s College I proceeded to obtain my first
degree at University of Aberdeen where I graduated with a degree in Economics.
I also obtained a Master’s Degree in Economics from the same institution. My
quest for more knowledge led me to enroll for yet another Master’s Degree at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, London where I gained an MSc. in
Finance and Development Studies.
Upon graduation, I landed a role as an
analyst at the European Economics and Financial Centre in London. Afterwards,
Euromoney Magazine employed me, where I covered the African space.
I would say that this is where my journey
truly started.
Given your background as a journalist, what
informed your decision to venture into rice farming?
While at Euromoney, I had the opportunity to
travel around a few African countries. These trips exposed me to countries like
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Ghana. A common thread amongst
the aforementioned nations is agriculture. Agriculture is at the very core of
these countries and this got me thinking. After a few more trips, I decided to
move back to Nigeria and sink my teeth into the agricultural space. Nigeria
remains the largest economy in Africa from both a GDP perspective and also the
strength of the size of our population.
Upon my arrival back in Nigeria, I got a job
at a premier bank where I was promised to sit on the agriculture desk – my hope
was that I would gain enough knowledge of the Nigerian agricultural industry
and develop myself from there.
Unfortunately, the agricultural desk at the
bank never quite achieved its set goals. I pushed hard for the bank to adopt
policies and gain inroads into the agricultural industry, but my attempts were
somewhat frustrated. I sincerely feel that the bank wasn’t quite ready to
launch fully into the agricultural space.
As my frustration grew, I decided to quit
banking and planned to go it alone into agriculture. Frankly, my decision led
to a challenging sojourn as attempts to raise funding with my partner proved
difficult. We started a Structured Trade and Commodity Finance company. After a
while I started consulting for small agriculture companies seeking to raise
capital both locally and internationally.
You currently own the second largest rice
farm in Nigeria with 45,000 hectares in Nasarawa, Nigeria. What’s the story
behind your acquisition of such vast land, and what are some of the challenges
you’ve encountered in farming in the volatile northern region?
Two years had past and we still had no funds,
so I made an offer to the farm owner, that with a 50-50 split, I would develop
the farm with both personal funds and external funding. He agreed and that’s
how I became part owner of 17,296 hectares of farmland. Knowing that
agriculture would become the integral area of focus in Nigeria, I was bullish
and ramped up the land to 55,000 hectares. I later parted with my partner as a
result of unaligned views and strategy. I maintained 45,000 hectares for myself
and today we have started producing, with our quality paddy being sold to major
milling companies in Nigeria. However, I must add the following, I often have
people ask how I learned abut farming, as everyone thinks you need a special
degree in agriculture to be a farmer, but I always tell them the truth, I
learnt it all on Google GOOGL +0.73%. I downloaded every article I
could find on rice production, consumed it and then practiced it in the fields.
Frankly, my experience working alongside
indigenes [natives] of Nasarawa state has been exceptional. I have learnt over
the years that if you approach people with respect even more so while one seeks
to set up a business venture. Having a healthy sense of community makes all the
difference in attaining one’s set objectives. I lean heavily on the wisdom and
cultural approach of the indigenes to carry out farming on such a scale here in
Nasarawa.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2016/06/27/meet-the-36-year-old-entrepreneur-who-owns-nigerias-2nd-largest-rice-farm/#1a28b88a71fd
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