Starting off a business is one of the major challenges
most aspiring entrepreneurs face. Some these young and aspiring entrepreneurs have
good business plan and strategy but the fear of starting has prevented their business
ideas from coming out of box. Often times, this fear is risk-related. Fear is a
common phenomenon associated with most Startups, but what makes you an entrepreneur
is the ability to summon up courage and face anything that might crop up during
business idea implementation.
Businesses have different level of risk. Entrepreneurs
take risk that is calculated and it is expected of aspiring entrepreneurs to
follow suit. Most Startups fail because they didn’t put certain things into
consideration which are necessary for business survival and scalability. Some
of those things are; doing a thorough feasibility study with market research;
getting to know your target market and customers; going to market with a Minimum
Viable Product (MVP); good marketing strategy and tough optimism among others.
During Agropreneur Zone forum discussion, Mr. Alade
Sunmisola narrated how he started as an agropreneur and marketing strategies he
adopted for his farm produces. Mr. Alade is a graduate of plant science (Crop
Production) from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, he majors in
Cassava, Maize and Cowpea production in Oshimili North L.G.A, Delta state.
“How did you start?”, “Well, it
happened, when I was posted to Delta state for my National Youth Service in
2011. I partnered and worked with an ex-youth leader in Oshimilo North LG
during my National service as farm support staff. At the end of my service
year, the ex-youth leader gave me land to start farming. This inspired me to go
fully into agriculture, besides, the whole economy and livelihood of the town
and neighbouring towns revolves around agriculture”.
This young Agropreneur started his farming business on
half of acre and expanding gradually. He also explained how he did the
marketing of his produce.
“We do direct on farm sales (i.e. buyers coming to the
farm to buy and transport their produces) and also take the produces to the
markets depending on how profitable the transaction will be”. He explained.
Furthermore, Mr. Alade revealed how he was able to
manage and scale up his profit margin. “Well, profit margin is manageable if
the contentment and fulfillment ideology is to be followed but on a business
scale, I believe there’s a lot more that can be added to the profit.”
The following tips were given for scaling up crop
production business and they; Improving on daily management practices right
from site selection and preparation until harvesting. (Good management practice
should also look into labour, work schedule and transportation.); improving market
value for produces; getting committed clientele for continuous patronage.
“Most importantly, I think production, transportation
and marketing lines have to be well aligned to the current modern practice to
achieve more profit both in yield and income. Also storage and processing units
comes in handy for unsold/left over produces because there’s never a waste on farm”. Alade concluded.