Timi Oke, co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor
In Nigeria’s evolving agri-processing sector, entrepreneurs are building businesses that not only serve local demand but also tap into export markets.
ReelFruit, a dried fruit snacks company, was founded in 2012 by Affiong Williams. Last year, the company inaugurated an 800-tonne-per-annum processing facility in Ogun State, a milestone that Williams sees as more than just an expansion.
“This factory isn’t just a structure of bricks and mortar. It embodies my long-term unwavering belief in Nigeria’s agricultural and manufacturing opportunity. We are going to process our range [of] dried fruits at scale, to serve customers across the country, as well as sell ‘Made in Nigeria’ to the rest of the world, creating several hundred jobs, and positively impacting farmers at scale. It is my hope that our factory stands as a positive symbol in the business landscape of Nigeria for generations to come,” Williams said at the time.
ReelFruit’s products – including dried mango, pineapple, fruit and nut mixes, and coconut flakes – are sold in hundreds of stores nationwide and have been exported to several countries. Williams sees the Nigerian diaspora in the US as a key opportunity.
“There is no better market, or no lower hanging fruit, than your people in another country,” she said. “I see a growing opportunity for products such as mine and other food products that are becoming more global in their standards, to sell to the Nigerian market in the US.”
Read more: CEO grows dried fruit company from idea to modern factory
An entrepreneur who has targeted the export market from the get-go is Timi Oke, co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor. His company exports Nigerian-grown dried hibiscus flowers to markets such as the US, Mexico and Europe.
Nigerian-born Timi Oke has long been drawn to agriculture. While working at a bank in the UK, he actively used LinkedIn to explore opportunities in the industry. In 2012, his efforts led him to connect with an importer in Mexico interested in sourcing hibiscus from Nigeria.
As Oke was still employed at the bank, his brother – a co-founder of the business – travelled to Kano, northern Nigeria, to purchase the hibiscus from aggregators who sourced it from small-scale farmers in the region.
Once the first order was completed and payment was received, Oke left his banking job and moved back to Nigeria to focus on the business full-time.
While hibiscus remains AgroEknor’s main focus, Oke also sees opportunities in other crops grown in Nigeria and across the continent. “We tend to look at commodities where there is no major player already … So our priority is niche markets where the market leadership is for the taking.”
Read more: Entrepreneur turns Nigerian superfood into a global export business
Another entrepreneur that has tapped into Nigeria’s agri-processing potential is Ebun Feludu, the founder of Kokari Coconuts & Company, which turns coconuts into a variety of food and personal care products.
Kokari caters to a diverse clientele, serving both corporate clients (business-to-business, or B2B) and individual consumers (business-to-consumer, or B2C).
On the B2B front, the company supplies coconuts and its by-products to manufacturing firms – such as cosmetics companies – that use them in their production processes. According to Feludu, B2B sales are growing significantly, making the current split between B2B and B2C sales approximately 50:50.
“The trend, [is] that many FMCG manufacturers … even if they are not mainstream coconut manufacturers … want to add an element of coconut in whatever they are doing. It could be their toothpaste, it could be their shampoo, it could be their skincare products,” says Feludu. “This is because market insights show that people associate anything made from coconut with wholesome and healthy and the consumers gravitate towards that.”
She believes that challenging times builds resilience. “It really is tough running a business, but what happens is – when you decide you’re never going to give up, when you decide that whatever comes, I will handle it, I have what it takes to handle it – [then] you build the muscle of ‘handling’,” she says. “What happens is many people go through the storm the first time, and they run. So they never get a chance to exercise the muscle that we all have to get stronger.”
Read more: Nigerian entrepreneur breaks into multi-billion dollar coconut industry
