Hey Flexxers! On this week’s episode of Flexxpreneur, we interviewed Kaosarah Abdulrasaq Adeyi, an agricultural entrepreneur and Executive Director of ABK Farms.
She gave us a look into her entrepreneurial journey, her challenges, wins, inspirations and more.
Let’s meet Kaosarah, our latest Flexxpreneur!
1. Let’s meet you (Your name and what you do)
I am Kaosarah Abdulrasaq Adeyi, the Executive Director of ABK Farms where we make use of local crafts in keeping bees for natural, pure and unadulterated honey production. We are also into catfish production and processing.
We have been able to empower different young people in the agricultural sector by organizing various training which, in turn, has helped them to be self-employed and also contribute to the growth of the Nigeria economy.
2. How long have you been doing this?
Less than three years
3. What inspired you to go into the business?
It has always been my dream to be a job creator and not a job seeker, and I have always wanted to have a business enterprise that would help reduce the rate of unemployment significantly in Nigeria.
After careful thought, I realized that one of the ways this goal can be achieved is leveraging the agricultural sector. Hence, I founded ABK Farms, which has been empowering young people through employment and trainings.
4. What was your highest and lowest point since you started today?
My lowest point was in 2019 when I won a grant of N500,000 through a business pitch competition put together by an organization, but I wasn’t given the fund. I just graduated from the University, and at that point, I needed the fund to expand my business. When this happened, I was a little bit down, but I had to brace up and put in more efforts to increase my sales. It was very challenging, but I needed to do more to raise revenue for business expansion.
The outbreak of COVID19 has affected a lot of businesses in Nigeria. However, it also presented some opportunities. At the height of the virus in the country, I restrategized, and within this period, my team and I were able to deliver to more than 300 customers within Ilorin, Kwara State only. Our revenue skyrocketed!
Not only that, but we also organized virtual training where we trained people such as corps members, retired civil servants and students on fish farming. Most of our trainees have started their agribusiness after the lockdown was eased. Coronavirus isn’t a good thing for the world, but it’s been a blessing in disguise for someone like me.
Top Pick: Meet our Flexxpreneur of the month, Fisayo Ajomole
5. What do you aim to achieve in the next 12 months concerning your business
In the next 12 months, it is in my plan to increase production scale through business expansion, employ more young people and also train more young people to reduce the negative impact of COVID outbreak on most Nigerians.
6. What are your short and long term goals
The rate at which people die of diabetes because they consume adulterated honey disheartens me. So, my short term goals at ABK Farms is to reduce this drastically by producing refined and natural honey. This will be achieved by increasing ABK Farms’ scale of production and also apply the same for catfish farming and processing.
My long term goal is to be the leading producer of natural honey and catfish in Nigeria while making the products available for the export market. Not only that, I, through ABK Farms, hope to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country by putting together capacity building initiatives for young people, most especially women.
7. Which individuals do you draw inspirations from and why?
Olasupo Abideen because he is a typical example of a young Nigerian youth who has successfully built different businesses legally from scratch and continues to excel across various sectors.
Also, Tony Elumelu. It is in my plan to empower a lot of young people, especially in entrepreneurship. He inspires me greatly through his initiatives for Africans, and I would love to do well in this path, too.
8. What advice would you give your fellow flexxers who are on this path?
Most of the successful businesses you look up to today took so long before they scaled up. Building a successful business is not a day’s job or an easy task. To be successful in life or business, you need to be prepared, put in efforts and most importantly, pray for the grace of God. I believe in the end; you will have a beautiful story to tell.
9. What are your social media handles?
Twitter- Personal: @ABKBrand
Business: @Farmsabk
Instagram- Personal: @ABK_Brand
Business: @abk_farms
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK’S FLEXXPRENEUR SERIES
1. To participate in FCMB’s Flexxpreneur Series (“the Initiative”), participants must be aged between 18-30 years and have a running business.
– Duly signed Flexxpreneur Agreement
4. FCMB reserves the right to edit received interviews for grammatical correctness and suitability for its audience.
5. Submission of details does not guarantee that a participant will be featured in the Initiative. FCMB reserves the exclusive right to select those to feature and when they would be featured.
6. Participants will have their interview and products/services showcased on one or more of FCMB’s social media platforms, its Flexxzone WhatsApp groups and its microsite flexxzone.fcmb.com
7. FCMB’s decision in respect of all matters to have to do with The Initiative will be final and binding on all participants.
8. There is no fixed time as to when participant’s interview/pictures will be used. FCMB will, however, make every effort to notify participants one week before featuring their entries
9. FCMB reserves the right to use all creative assets including participant pictures, products/services image, interview and other materials related to The Initiative in promotion of its Flexx product.
10. By entering this initiative, participants agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
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