Farming Business Expert: The Truth About Agribusiness in Ghana

"Poverty is a choice, my brother." These powerful words from Enyonam, widely known as The Ghanaian Farmer, cut through long-held misconceptions about agriculture in Ghana. While the average farmer in the country is 55 years old—approaching Ghana's life expectancy—farming remains one of our greatest untapped opportunities for wealth creation and poverty eradication.

The silence around agricultural prosperity is deafening. "The OGs who have been in the space have made wealth but they refuse to talk about it," Enyonam reveals, explaining why young people continue to view farming through an outdated lens. This powerful conversation dismantles these stereotypes, revealing how coconut farming on just 20 acres could generate over 1.3 million cedis annually, with farmers harvesting approximately 100 fruits per tree twice yearly.

But success requires more than just planting seeds. Market research before production is non-negotiable. "If you don't categorize your buyers, then you would sell to the market woman who comes to tell you this is how much I'm paying or I won't buy," Enyonam cautions. She details practical routes to market, from government institutions like Ghana Commodity Exchange to international buyers seeking export-quality produce, each requiring different approaches and certifications.

Financial support for agricultural entrepreneurs is increasingly accessible through organizations like Mastercard Foundation, offering loans at 5% interest with generous repayment terms. Young graduates shouldn't wait for government employment but should package their agricultural expertise as consulting services—especially valuable in a country where one extension officer serves nearly 1,000 farmers. Modern farming has evolved beyond rainfall dependency and wasteful practices; today's successful farmers use irrigation systems and transform every byproduct into value, from cassava peels for animal feed to fish-water for vegetable growing.

Whether you're considering agriculture as an investment or career path, this episode reveals the practical steps to success while avoiding common scams and pitfalls. Join our community of forward-thinking entrepreneurs at our upcoming event on August 29th at the British Council. Subscribe now and become part of a movement transforming how we think about agriculture in Ghana and beyond.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There is a lot of market chains when it comes to
selling agriculture produce.
That's one and others.
We have coins for every produce.
So if even you want to sellwith a market coin, go there
depending on what you'reproducing, and ask Mame, I want
to be selling to the women, howdo I go about it?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
How do these international establishments
support these businesses?
What's usually the process?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
so usually, if you don't categorize, if you don't
identify, then my brother, youwould sell.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I want to prepare it for export.
How do I go about?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
it.
So in Ghana there is a line ofpeople to Target and sell to if
you want to become a farmer.
The OGs who have been in thisspace have made wealth, but they
refuse to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So you all come to Connected Minds podcast.
Wow, I had to do a lot of workin the studio to get this
working and thank you so muchfor supporting us and being part
of the family, the ConnectedMinds family.
Look, on the 29th of August wehave an event coming up at the
British Council.
So if you're under the sound ofthis voice and you have

(01:24):
yourself a business or you'rethinking of becoming a business
person, you just don't know whatto do, you need to be at the
British Council on the 29th.
The details are going to be inthe description and today's
conversation.
We're keeping it very simple.
It's with the Ghanaian farmer.
That's what everyone calls her.
But, her actual name isbeautiful name she has, enyonam

(01:50):
is beautiful name she has andyour name is beautiful name she
has.
But we all call it a Ghanaianfarmer because you know, we all
know her as a Ghanaian farmer.
She's had several businesses.
I've spoken to a lot ofentrepreneurs who have
businesses in the agri.
You know sector but today's oneis different because she speaks
with people in the agribusiness.
She has a business herself butbecause of how much experience
she has with people who are inthe agri business, it is so

(02:14):
important you stick around andlisten to what you think the top
businesses in agri are whereyou can put your money.
If you're in the diasporathinking of coming to put money
in Ghana, this conversation youmust sit down and listen to the
Ghanaian farmer, spit it all outhow it should be.
You're welcome to ConnectedMinds podcast, my sister.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Thank you very much, derek.
I'm very happy to be part ofthis platform and, of course, to
connect with your viewers.
I have followed you closely andpeople have been speaking.
You're talking.
I'm like, okay, who is this newdude?
So I have got to check out afew of your content and it's

(02:54):
been very, very impactful, veryinteresting conversation.
I mean, on a normal day peopledon't like to watch stuff like
this, but when I see the numbers, numbers it means you're doing
something right.
So thanks for having me you'reabsolutely welcome.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Um, you saw me running around trying to make
this conversation happen andI've spent not less than seven
hours researching about you,speaking to people about you, so
I hope everything, everythingthey told me I get to learn it
all today.
My first question to you is whydo you do what you do?

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Because I wanted to be different.
I didn't want to follow whateverybody's doing Journalists in
Ghana, I don't know aboutelsewhere.
After graduating nationalservice, they are either keen on
becoming hosts of politicalshows, sport or entertainment,

(03:56):
and so, as a journalist after mydiploma, I asked myself do you
also want to do the same thing?
How can you be different fromthe rest?
What are the industries that doso much, contribute so much to
our economy and yet the leasttalked about?
And, of course, how do I makemy father proud who is a part of

(04:22):
that industry?
And I'm referring toagricultural farmers.
And so I cover a niche formyself and I'm proud I made that
decision.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
If you were to sum up everything you do, what would
you say?
You do.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
I'm reciting mind and making impact.
Okay.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
In the agri sector Exactly.
My viewers will not understand.
Are you a farmer yourself?

Speaker 1 (04:50):
I am.
I just started two years ago.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Right, you've been in this industry for.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Five years Five years .

Speaker 2 (04:59):
I know that you had some other ventures ongoing.
Why did you just start twoyears ago that you had some
other ventures ongoing?

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Why did it just start two years ago.
So before you move into a space, you need to take time and
learn from all those who areahead of you.
Pick the mistakes they made,polish them up.
So even if you would repeatsome of these mistakes, it will
not be as much as they did so,for if you would repeat some of

(05:25):
these mistakes, it will not beas much as they did so.
For my first three years it wasleaning grounds, observing,
because what I want to do,farming, is a jealous venture.
It needs your attention, itneeds your commitment, it needs
your focus and dedication to getthe result.

(05:47):
You can't gamble with agri.
We don't do it in agri.
So you either have your twofoot in there or don't even
start at all.
So the first three years I waslistening.
Poultry farmers are talked tothem, goats, cow, pigry, fish

(06:10):
farmers, crop farmers have gonethrough all the phases and so
now I think I'm well groundedand can chart the paths I want
to Amazing.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Deganean farmer when I was growing, amazing, the
Ghanaian farmer when I wasgrowing up, farming was almost a
punishment for me.
That's how I felt hey, let's goto the farm.
I didn't really want to go tothe farm.
Sometimes you cry, you wean,but then you still have to go.
Why has farming become such abig topic in Africa?

Speaker 1 (06:47):
in recent times.
It's simply because, one, weare not discovering the benefits
that farms comes with and, two,we've not realized that it is
one of the biggest job creators,industries or sectors.
And I say, three, it is one ofthe sectors that will eradicate

(07:11):
poverty.
How.
Because in farming nothing goeswaste.
Nothing Gone were the days whencassava farmers would throw
their pail away.
Okay, talk to me about it, buttoday cassava pails are added to

(07:36):
other ingredients to producefeed for your pigry.
Today, coconuts, after drinking, the coconut husk is no more
damped.
There are multiple things thatcan be produced out of, like the
coconut fiber, the coconut peat.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, you can make briquet out of it A lot.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
So tell me, is there a weight in anything agri, the
water that is used around fishes, so tilapia, catfish, people
until today or recently wouldjust change over the water and
then dispose the water, buttoday that water around your
fish in the tank you can addjust a bit of implements and

(08:19):
that can grow you very healthy,quality vegetables.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I actually saw from a farmer in the Fota region.
He does tilapia farm, you knowhim.
I forgot the name.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Flo Sel.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's it, and when I went to his farm, I loved it.
It's so technical and it lookedas if I was in the lab, but
what was beautiful about it wasthat the water that was coming
out of the tilapia he was usingthat to grow corn at the time.
Good, and the leaves of thecorn were so green.

(08:54):
Yes, and he was explaining it tome at the time, yes, I said wow
, so nothing goes waste in thispresent day, in our Greek Okay,
I still want to take you back towhy you decided it's only two
years, like only two years agois the time you were saying that
, okay, I want to go intofarming myself.
I understand you initially hada venture.

(09:17):
What happened?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
So I lost my job in 2017 at Radio Gold, one of the
biggest and oldest mediabroadcasting stations Not just
me, but a group of workersbecause the station was shut
down political issues and so theowners said, hey, you guys all

(09:40):
have to go home.
And that's when reality set in,and so I began to reflect and
ask myself questions what next?
What you have learned fromradio good?
What can you make out of that?
Are you still going to takeyour CV and go and be walking

(10:01):
around other media houseslooking for employment?
Or you want to become your pay?
You know your own employer, andso that's when the concept of
becoming a creator or a producerwas bettered.
And then again, as a youngbusiness person, before you

(10:22):
invest into something, you needto take your time and cross all
the T's and dot the I's, and soI realized that there were a lot
of shows happening.
When it comes to business showsas well, it was all about the
giant.
You know the big guys.
They are the ones that TVstations want to talk about or
interview.
So I then switched a bit andthen began producing my own

(10:49):
television program calledBusiness Trends.
So, that was my first business Iestablished in 2017.
So I had to just call the crew,pay them, book the resource
persons these young startups goon the internet, look who is
doing something new, who isdoing something amazing.
Look for them, interview themand put it on TV.

(11:10):
So that was my business.
So I paid myself, I paid myteam and I did that for four
years.
I got some awards.
I became a go-to person around2017, 2020, when we're talking
about young people who arepushing business, we're talking
about entrepreneurship.

(11:30):
If you want a young person tospeak on a platform about
business, call the NUNAM.
I mean that time.
Business Trends.
So that was my first business.
And then you know I need to addon.
So around 2020, in COVID, Ithen again was on my bed

(11:51):
reflecting okay, business trendshas gained prominence.
I've made an impact.
What next?
Do we keep doing businesstrends or we add on something I
see.
So the Ghanaian farmer becamean add-on.
But you see, if you're buildinga brand, derek, you don't want

(12:13):
to confuse your followers.
Talk to me.
For that period of three years,I established myself as a
corporate entrepreneur that canbe referred to and called on
when there are issues pertainingbusiness or SME.
Now here you are.

(12:34):
You said you want to talk aboutagri.
So where do we put you?
Are you still an SME person oryou're an agri person?
So for me it wasn't aboutquitting business trends, but it
was about looking for a newface for business trends.
And then moving on to theGhanaian farmer.
But you know the story oflooking for given job or looking

(12:59):
for people to fill in a spacethat you think is available For
most of the young people inGhana.
Even though I'm not that old,they think about how much are
you paying me first, rather thanwhat value I'm bringing to the
brand.
You don't call your paycheckwhen I don't see the value

(13:20):
you're bringing to my brand.
So for me, if I call you for ajob, you can mention what you
want, but I still will insistlet's work.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
I think sometimes you know we talk about value, value
, value, right.
But a beautiful question foryou to answer before we move on
to this.
What did you mean by that value?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
I called you to be a host of my program.
You might have come foraudition and everything, but you
need to sit on that seat.
You would have hosted a coupleof episodes.
The feedback from my audiencewould tell me if I made the
right choice or not.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
What do I have to do for you to see the value in me?
What do I have to do for you tosee it?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
So for a host, I do multiple things.
Okay, but maybe others mightnot be able to do.
I can script my program.
I can book my resource person.
I do not at times, or most ofthe time, even set questions.
I mean write questions beforeasking.
I remember I had clearly alecturer saying that if you will

(14:34):
be a good interviewer, it's notabout the questions you write,
it's about paying attention whenyour guest is speaking.
So you pick your follow-upquestion from what they say.
So, derek, if I interview youto host Business Trends and you
tell me, enyo, I want you to payme 5,000 per episode, no
problem.
But before I pay that money,you must host the show Right.

(14:58):
I need to get feedback from myaudience.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
The young people are saying pay me.
Well, I want to read somethingfor you.
Right Something veryinteresting.
The life expectancy of Ghana atthe moment is between 55 to 60
years, but the average farmer is55 years.

(15:22):
You see what is happening here.
This was a research that wasdone by one doctor, a researcher
at the University ofEnvironment and Sustainable
Development in Ghana, and when Iread it I said my God.
That means that if the averagefarmer is 55 years, that means
that still, as much as there's alot of noise about young people
getting into farming, it'sactually not having the impact

(15:45):
yet, because we still have, andthis research was done recently
I actually read it in March sothat means that 55, life
expectancy 60 or even 70, thatmeans a lot of the farmers are
getting too old.
What have you been doing, orwhat can you do, to tell more
young people to get into farming?

Speaker 1 (16:04):
So the inspiration that made me go into agri are a
few.
One is the fact that even theMinistry of Food and Agriculture
has not got a gallery ofeducational materials for novice

(16:27):
who want to go into the spaceto feed on.
Okay, that is number one.
The gap in education aboutagriculture is lacking.
Number two is the fact that theOGs who have been in the space
have made wealth but they refuseto talk about it.

(16:50):
Why, you know?
I was thinking as Africans, ifthey know, say Okwui Eni, a
farmer, I have this storybuilding, I drive these Benz, I
travel when I want to.
They say, ah, so that's why youdon't want to pay taxes or this
or that or that.
For a very long time.

(17:11):
Farmers don't want to disclosetheir wealth.
So the young person out thereonly see you wearing tattered
clothes and that's what informedme to wear my brand.
That agri is not all aboutwearing tattered clothes.
You can wear decent clothes andstill go in the bush and farm.
So one the lack of wedisclosing or farmers disclosing

(17:37):
how much wealth or asset I'veacquired from agri is number one
.
That is why the young peopleare not going.
Number two number three is partof lack of infrastructure and
market access.
In this day and age, you stillgo to the village and you see
people still using the cutlassand the hoe.

(17:57):
I was here in Hachu that's anurban area, they do vegetables
and I still saw the young peopleusing.
You know, I was asking thealaji alaji, how do you plow the
land?
And he said, oh, this young manis the one, the guy, he alone,
he used a hoe to prepare theland for all the farmers.
They pay him his money.
Why?
Why, when, in this currentdispensation, we have simple

(18:21):
tools that a farmer can just,you know, hold it, stand on it
and they plow the land.
So, lack of infrastructure andlack of market assets.
And so, for me, if you tell me Iwant to go into poultry, I tell
you, look for who you want tosell your eggs to.
You see, the notion of thenotion of we eat eggs every day,

(18:46):
or the notion of we eatvegetables every day, or the
notion of people love pig inGhana, is one of the reasons
people lose money.
There is a lot of market changewhen it comes to selling
agricultural produce.
So, from the governmentinstitutions who you might

(19:07):
supply because they've given youcontracts, feed you know Ghana.
What about feeding the schoolfeeding thing?
You could get a contract fromthere.
That's one.
Private institutions like thebig malls can be one of the
people you want to sell to themarket.
Women are others.
The corporate woman who doesn.
You want to sell to the market.
Women are others.
The corporate woman who doesn'twant to go to market but wants

(19:27):
someone to shop for themweekends.
So there is a line of people totarget and sell to.
If you want to become a farmer,Take me through that.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
You just said I want to get into farming, but I need
to find a person who would.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Your market niche matters.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
So why is it very important If you don't?
But I need to find a person whowould your market needs, yes,
yes.
So why is it very important?

Speaker 1 (19:47):
If you don't, you have yourself to be blamed.
Then post-harvest loss will beyour friend.
Okay, you would have to Mentos,and it will just be seated
there.
And these are perishables, bythe way.
In three days, one week, maxtwo weeks, that is, if you have
an air-conditioned place andthey are there two weeks

(20:09):
afterwards, it will start losingits freshness, quality, and
then that's where you eithersell it cheap and lose the money
you even used in producing, notto talk about profit.
So, again, I said, you eithergo to government and apply to be
someone who supplies the food.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
How do you do that?
What's the process?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
So you have to go to Bafa Stock.
Okay, there is an institutioncalled Bafa Stock.
They are in charge of buyingexcess food, storing in
warehouses and distributing toschools.
So you can either go there oreven go to Ghana Commodity
Exchange.
They also buy certain kinds ofagricultural produce.

(20:51):
So I think they buy maize, theybuy rice, they buy beans, they
buy sorghum, millets.
Walk to Ghana CommodityExchange and speak to them.
I want to produce sorghum ormillets.
How do I sell to you?
Because they also havewarehouses where they stock and
sell to other institutions.

(21:11):
So walk to them and make theirinquiries.
Don't go to their hotels.
Some of them have farms, somedon't.
But if you produce grade A sortof produce, they will buy from
you.
Ask the procurement manager Iwant to be your supplier.
How do you buy?
What are the intervals or theduration of buying?

(21:33):
How do you pay me?
Is it cash on delivery or check, or there is a time that you
take to pay?
Go there or go to thesupermarket.
Ask them what type ofvegetables do you buy?

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Who am I speaking to when I go to the supermarket?

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Go to the procurement manager, the marketing manager.
How do I package it?
What is the branding?
They tell you theirspecifications.
Don't assume in a Greek, don'tgamble.
And so you package to meet theexpectation of the buyer.
They become your buyer.
Or the corporate women who areso tired and can't go to the

(22:14):
market on weekends.
Figure them out.
That is why you have WhatsAppstatus.
You are on Facebook, you are onTwitter, you are on Instagram.
Begin to post.
I are on Facebook, you are onTwitter, you are on Instagram.
Begin to post.
I'm selling this.
If you want to buy, I can evendo delivery.
Then you get to find your nichethat you have to sell to.

(22:39):
If you don't categorize, if youdon't identify, then, my
brother, you would sell to themarket woman who comes to tell
you this is how much I'm payingor I won't buy.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here, but if you
haven't become part of thefamily, connect with us.
Hit the subscribe button andlet's carry on the conversation.

(23:10):
All right, take me through theproblems that happened there the
market woman and the produceBecause I've heard people saying
that sometimes they make evenmore money than the people
producing themselves.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
All right.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
So the market woman, she's also there for business.
She's there for profit.
You are not his friend or herfriend For her.
She's waiting patiently to buywhen your produce are ready.
It will interest you to knowthat in the markets we have
queens for every produce.

(23:44):
We have the market queen fortomatoes, market queen for
plantain, market queen for okra,market queen for yam cassava.
So if even you want to sellwith a market queen, or want to
sell with Nagobulushi or Kaneshior Temastasi, go there,
depending on what you'reproducing, and ask I want the

(24:07):
market queen of so-and-sovegetable.
They will direct you, Sit withthe woman and ask mommy, I want
to be selling to the women, howdo I go about it?
She tells you the protocol tofollow and so when your harvest
is ready, they tell the truckdriver to go and buy and bring

(24:30):
it to the market.
You would even get to know ifthey pay cash or you have to
supply them and they pay in somefew days later If you don't
follow this protocol.
I tell you one of my farmers whocame from the UK, Kwame.
He said one of these days Iharvested my plantain and I
drove all the way to Agobulusito go and sell.

(24:51):
They told him Abrahan, youwon't sell your plantain here
Because you don't have ourpermission to sell.
And so he has to go and see themarket queen.
And even that the woman saidthis price you're mentioning, I
won't buy.
I will give you this price.
You either agree or you driveback your planting to your farm.

(25:12):
So the thing is that if youdon't identify all these people
that I mentioned, this cycle ofpeople, and know who you want to
sell to, then that's where youwait.
It's time or two weeks to yourharvest.
You're not running around.
Oh, I have this, I'm selling.

(25:33):
I have ginger, I'm selling.
Do you want to buy?
If the person see the desperatein your eyes, he will now tell
you listen, I'll buy, I'm evendoing a venture.
Yes, I may pay you.
It's not as if I want, butbecause I don't want you to lose
money.
That's how much I'll buy itGiven.
You either take it or you leaveit.

(25:56):
These are the errors that newentrants to our Greek make and
they lose money.
Catfish, for instance when it'smatured and you don't sell, it
will be eaten.
It is not a pond, it will beeaten.

(26:16):
And you see, the worst part iswhen you've not even managed a
plan B to add value, which issmoking it.
When you're smart and you havea catfish or a tilapia farm,
what you do as a plan B is tohave an oven, being in the
traditional oven or the moderntype of oven, and so when the

(26:38):
time is getting closer and thebuyers are not coming on the
price you're getting for a kilo,it's no good Smoke it, and the
lifespan of a smoke fish givesyou room to sell at the price
you want.
If you don't have a plan B then, my brother, your money will go

(27:03):
waste.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
We've spoken about how to take the produce to the
market in.
Ghana.
How about now?
I want to prepare it for export.
Who do I see?
How do I go about it?

Speaker 1 (27:16):
So in Ghana we have associations in the farming
space.
We have association for coconutcassava.
We have association forvegetables Soava, we have
association for vegetables.
So there is this people, youcall them fruit and vegetable
farmers association, vpec.
Then we have the Fage, which isFederation for Export

(27:38):
Association or something, andthen we have the Ghana Export
Promotion Authority, gepa theGhana Export Promotion Authority
, gepa.
So now, depending on where youfind yourself, if you are within
the rice value chain, there areassociations for rice.
You say it's about workingDerek, so look for the vegetable

(27:59):
VPEG guys.
Go to their office and register.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
That's step number one.
Number two is go to GEPA andregister to be a member.
Now, gepa has this annualprograms.
They organize trips, agri-expos, agri-fairs to the European
countries.
So when you attend some ofthose trips there, you meet

(28:25):
people who are looking forthings to buy from Africa.
They will tell you this is whatI want Every month.
I want a 40-feeter or a20-feeter container.
This is the quality I want andthese are the certifications you
need to have before you cansend it.
So there was this client in theUK who wanted tiger nuts from

(28:48):
Ghana.
They use it for cosmetics andthey reach out to us because of
what we do, so he wanted asample.
I got a sample from Kwewu,because they do a lot of tiger
nuts there.
I had to go to PPRSD it's oneof the agencies that gives
certificates and licenses sothey took a photosanitary

(29:10):
picture and gave me acertificate as to the quality of
the produce before DHL wouldaccept.
Take it to the person.
So there is a lot of inquiry tobe made.
So there is a lot of enquiriesto be made.
Your money alone is not enoughto make you successful in agri.

(29:31):
Your knowledge belonging toassociations, asking the right
questions, are what will makeyou successful in this space.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
The same researcher, dr Asare Nyama.
I think what he was trying todo with this research is to find
out whether young people areinterested in farming or not,
because he started from okay,life expectancy the age of
farmers in the country and thenhe realized that actually 69.3%

(30:06):
of the young people they spokewith were interested in farming.
But my question is if 69.3%young people are interested,
which is a huge number becausethat means that it's going to
reduce the average age.
What support do they need toactually get into farming?

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Great.
That's the big question.
So for a young person, most ofthem either have family lands
that they've spoken to familyheads they say, oh, you can use
it.
But beyond having access toland comes a lot of things like

(30:45):
plowing of the land.
Presently I have one where Ihave 6.3 acres.
I'm told per the agri-officerthere that plowing one acre is
600 cedars.
So plowing, and you don't plowjust one, depending on what
you're producing, you might haveto plow twice and even harrow

(31:08):
to give the land a smoothsurface.
You need to do your productionand so plowing alone, even if
it's just one acre, it mightcost you like some $2,000
already, depending on where youfind yourself, to do your plow.
Then the seed you need to buyseed, Then you need to buy.
If you're doing organic, thenyou need to buy seed, then you
need to buy.
If you're doing organic, thenyou have to go and look for the

(31:30):
manuals, but if you're doingconventional, then you need to
buy fertilizers.
Of course, even if it's oneacre, you still need one person
or two to help you, derek.
So labor is there.
And so you see, beyond havingaccess to land, Derek, so labor
is there, and so you see, beyondhaving access to land comes

(31:50):
capital to start the production,and that is where the challenge
lies, until the intervention ofa lot of some international
organizations like MastercardFoundation, oh my.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
God, you just took it out of my head Because I've
spoken to Fred from Farming inAfrica and we spoke extensively
about.
Mastercard.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Foundation.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
I didn't want this to be about it, but all I wanted
to understand was that a youngperson because truth is,
doctors' research also broughtit all the way down to the fact
that 64% of these young peoplehe spoke with had access to land
.
They just didn't know what todo yes, so they have access to
the land, but what supportsystem is available, even from

(32:40):
international, to allow them tobe able to start farming?

Speaker 1 (32:44):
So until the intervention of some of these
organizations, a lot of youngpeople were struggling because
the commercial banks would notgive you a loan and even if they
want to give you, theirinterest rate alone would
discourage you from acceptingthe loan.
And it's not a good idea for astartup to just go for a loan.

(33:09):
At least you should start yourfirst three years, going into
your five years.
You would have understand yourcash flow, you would have
understand your profit.
Then you can be confidentenough to say, okay, if you give
me $20,000 or $50,000 everymonth, I can pay this amount

(33:29):
comfortably without mestruggling.
So, beyond the land, we needmoney to do the farming.
We need simple introduction ofmechanization equipment to do
our farming.
If I have farm land and I don'thave water, derek, how do I
produce?
Do you know how much it'scosting to drill borehole?

(33:52):
Now I guess one way I want todo my borehole.
Last time I checked with aborehole company, the lady told
me 25,000 to do one borehole,and my land is 6.3.
So, according to my agronomist,madam, we need two boreholes,
not one.
Wow, thank you.
So can a startup person whosefamily said okay, we are giving

(34:16):
you one acre or we are givingyou two acres.
You can use it.
Can they drill a borehole?
You see, if you want to makefarming profitable, rainfall
farming is not farming.
Talk to me, it's child's play,rainfall farming.
You're waiting for the rains tocome and then it will come
today, tomorrow, it's not coming.
You've planted your things.

(34:37):
They are waiting for my brother.
Rainfall farming is notcommercial farming.
Yes, our parents might haveused it over the years, but tell
me what?
How far have they gone withthat?
All the big farms you see aredoing irrigation farming.

(34:57):
And how can I start a person?
Yesterday at the conference Isaw irrigation set up and I was
asking the man how much is it?
He was mentioning some costs.
So I just laughed and I'm likehow can a startup afford this
cost?

Speaker 2 (35:20):
How do these international establishments
without us getting details?
Into names supports thesebusinesses.
What's usually the process?

Speaker 1 (35:29):
So usually they ask for a few basic requirements,
and so for me, in my line ofwork, I always advocate for that
.
Derek, even before you have theland, go and register the farm
Derek's farm or Derry's and Cofarms.
Register the farm Whatevermoney you get whilst Co Farms.
Register the farm Whatevermoney you get whilst maybe

(35:49):
you're doing a side job orsomething.
Be putting the money in thataccount.
Be building the account.
So first of all, you need toregister the business.
Okay, number two you shouldhave an account in the name of
the farm.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
Number three there should be some record.
Record keeping means that atleast oh Derek rented one acre
and on the one acre he rented hespent this amount for-.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Right on an Excel sheet.
Thank you, Okay, cool.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
So a simple record to show how the farm is faring.
They are not looking so much onthe money there, but they are
looking at.
Okay, you're keeping somerecord Digitally present Because
they make their checks.
If indeed you're farming,indeed you have a business,
let's go and check them out,let's see what he's doing.

(36:43):
When I was filling some grantform, I feel like I had to add
my digital media platformsbecause they ask Then some might
even go the extra mile to goand check if indeed there exists
a fan.
So when you go through allthese phases, they look at what

(37:05):
you're doing and then they giveyou the support at a very single
figure digits rate.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
What are we looking at?
What sort of numbers?
5% 5% against the dollar oragainst the CDI.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Against the CDIs.
They don't do dollars.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Right, so the money most people are getting is in
dollars but then?

Speaker 1 (37:27):
but it's converted by the bank into cities for you
right, and then you still payagainst the city exactly over
what period of time?
so you are allowed to pay withinthree to five years.
If you check or mark all thoseboxes right, then you stand a
higher chances.
So there are the loan part,then there is a grant part.

(37:50):
Okay, the grant part is whereyou have a brilliant idea, you
write a very good proposal andyou pitch and then you make
money.
Currently I'm doing aninfluencer work for Ayute Africa
and there are two Ghanaianyoung people who are competing

(38:11):
in that.
It's happening in Kampala.
It's free money.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Usually, how much is that free money?

Speaker 1 (38:17):
So usually people get as much as $50,000, $100,000.
So if your idea is really good,you've registered.
But but then again you have todo some registration.
They should see some you know,genuineness and real materials
available to show that, okay,the guy is doing something.
So if he pitches and we trustthis idea, we can put some money

(38:40):
in there.
So what I always say to youngpeople is that there are monies
flying around now in the agrisector, but it depends on how
well you're positioned to assessit.
If you're not well positioned,then the monies will be flying

(39:00):
and you won't get any.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
I want to start a farm.
I just don't know what to do.
You've spoken to so manyentrepreneurs in the agri
business Top five businesses inagri in Africa.
Right now that is making money.
Where would you start from?

Speaker 1 (39:17):
I'll do coconut.
Okay, I'll do oil palm.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
I'll do vegetables, I'll do poultry, I'll do pig,
I'll do poetry, I'll do pigry,okay.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Why coconut?
Because there is no waste, okay.
And then we go all the way tothe bottom.
Exactly why pigry?

Speaker 1 (39:43):
because pigry gives me multiple births, it takes the
shortest time to expand my farmif you had a pig farm, how
would you sell the produce fromthe farm?
I would add value so when youhave a pig farm, what you can do

(40:05):
is create a small space like anabattoir or a clean place where
you can slaughter, slaughteryour pig, cut it into pieces
Packages, have a deep freezer.
You store it in there, brand itwell and sell to pig lovers
Just the way people walk toKosto to go and buy freeze

(40:29):
chicken.
Sell your pigry like that.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
I've heard a lot of people saying that we have a pig
farm.
They are struggling withselling.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
It is because they are all relying on their pig
joint in Accra, but the pigjoint too nowadays.
Some of the women have gone asfar as now owning their farms.
So they now go to their ownfarms and bring their pigs Until
there's shortage.
Then they call on externalfarmers to supply.

(41:01):
So if your only way to sellyour pig is to the pig joints in
town, then your pigs will growand they'll be eating and pigs
can eat.
So why don't you createsomething new?
Nobody's doing even the jointitself.
You can have one two years in avery nice way, sometimes right

(41:27):
me.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
When I think about farming, I really think about
because I love big money.
You know, I love big money.
So this thing you are tellingme, it sounds great.
It sounds fantastic.
But what I really want tounderstand is how much money can
I make from coconut farm?
At what scale?

Speaker 1 (41:49):
So coconut.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Even with one acre of coconut.
So you're going to stay aroundfor the next three years before
you start fruiting.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
How many years?

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Depending on the variety.
So between two and a half threeyears it is fruiting On just
one coconut.
Again, depending on the varietyyou have, you can harvest about
75 to 100 fruits from just onecoconut.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Let's say 100.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
And if at the farm gates you are selling one
coconut so you grade it.
When a farmer comes you gradeso they grade.
The biggest ones are graded onthe side, the medium ones are on
the side and then the smallestare on the other side.
The least price for one coconutin the farm gate now is between
four city, 50 pesos or fivecities.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Okay, so I'll take four city 50 pesos and I'm going
gonna multiply the 100 fruits,because 100 fruits is on an acre
so I'm gonna say I'm doing a 20acre farm right, so that means
we have 2 000 fruits, and thenwe're gonna multiply that by so
one acre land takes about 75trees of coconut okay but on one
single plant of coconut iswhere you are likely to harvest

(43:06):
about 100 fruits from.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
In a year.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
So when you?

Speaker 1 (43:12):
start fruiting.
So from the start, the firstharvest, you might get 50 fruit
or 70.
But when it goes to the cyclecycle of harvesting- you will
get more Right.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
So an acre would take 75.
75 trees, 75 trees.
So that means that a 20 acreswould have 1,500.
Exactly, and each tree wouldgive us 100.
Exactly Right, so that gives us150,000.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Okay, and each one is being sold at.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Four CD four CD 50 persuades Four.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
CD 50 pesos, 4 CD 50 pesos.
So that's 675,000 for a 20 acrecoconut farm.
The question is how how oftenwould I get my 100 fruits?

Speaker 1 (43:58):
So in a year you can harvest your coconut farm twice
Twice.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yes, okay, so I can multiply this money times two
Exactly In a year.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Okay, but listen again.
In farming it's garbage in,garbage out.
The fact that I tell you yourcoconut tree can give you the
least fruit of 50, the majorfruit of 100, it depends on how
well you're taking care of yourplant.
It could be low.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
So I'm not taking your word for it.
Thank you, but I'm just usingthis as um, as a guide, to
understand what is possible.
Based on that, my calculationhas been 1.1.3 million garnishes
on a 20 acre coconut farmfantastic.
However, we can take it out andsay, okay, things didn't go as

(44:44):
well, so we made 900 000.
Right?
Um, we still have expenses, butI'm sure with coconut it's not
gonna be much not much for oneacre coconut, for maybe just one
person plus yourself.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
you can take care of it, and the beauty is, when a
coconut plant is around one yearthereabout, you can be doing
vegetables in between, becausethe trees are not closer.
There's a distance between thistree to that tree, so you can
do your small habaneros, yoursmall tomatoes, and be

(45:19):
harvesting, and that is what youuse to run the day-to-day
management of the farm whilstyou're waiting to begin
harvesting.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
For me again.
I love big money.
I think that's fantastic, that20-acre farm that's going to
give me 1.3,.
I'll probably end up becauseI'm trying to go for about maybe
10 million a year.
I'll probably have to multiplythat many times to get the money
, but that gives me confidencethat, apart from the fact that

(45:48):
we can just get the fruits outof it, we can get other things
out of it.
So that's the beauty of thewhole thing.
The next thing I wanted to talkto you about is scams in the
industry.
Yeah, Scams in the industryhuge.
You've personally been involvedin one, Somebody else did, and

(46:12):
you know.
Sometimes these things can haveissues with the entire industry
and dental reputation is hereand there.
How are you managing it?
Oh.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
So you've got to be careful.
You can never be careful, butthen again you have to be
careful.
You can never be careful, butthen again you have to be
careful, especially when thefigures look too good,
especially when the presentationlooks so smooth no hitches.
Here and there you need to becareful and double-check, and

(46:45):
double check and double check.
For instance, because of thework I do, most of the diasporan
brothers would reach outEnyonam, I want land to buy.
Or Enyonam, I have this amountof money.
Is there any farmer you canrecommend for me to invest my
money and I tell them calm down.
Request for basic things likelet me see your farm

(47:08):
registration, let me see theaccount in the name of the farm.
Can I have records of how muchyou use in producing?
How much revenue comes in thepayment of staff?
Can you give me somecalculation as to when I give
you my money?
If it's vegetables, after fourmonths, how much do I get back?

(47:31):
If possible, can you get alawyer to sign a document
between the two of you, becausewhen the person is binded by
that, it creates a little bit offear, even though it might not
be a guarantee.
But you see, if you don't dothe double checking, then you
are availing yourself to berobbed.
That's true.

(47:51):
I get people who say I know Iwanted to buy a land and someone
said send me money, let me buythe land for you.
And some of them trust so muchthat they end up sending the
money, only for them to arrivein Ghana.
You call the number.
It's switched off.
The house number they give youyou go there.

(48:12):
There is nobody existing, likethat.
What else can you do?

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here, but if you
haven't become part of thefamily, connect with us, hit the
subscribe button and let'scarry on the conversation.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
And you know you have a huge following.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
People trust your work and the process that you've
taken a lot of young peoplethrough to start their own farms
.
In the case that happened, whatreally happened, without taking
us through the entire fullstory what happened with the
other dude?

Speaker 1 (48:55):
so it's not easy.
There was this lady who sentmoney down for what do you call
it?
Land to be bought for farming.
But she got here and there wasno land.

(49:15):
She and her husband, they gotto Ghana.
They went to, where they showedthem pictures and everything,
only for the community to say,hey, this land belongs to a
certain old man and the manhasn't told us he's selling the
land.
So they track the man's nameand all that and they found the

(49:36):
man.
The man said I'm not selling myland, even myself.
I remember me and some otherfive partners there's one in the
US, one in Germany, one in UKand then some in Ghana.
We put money together.
We wanted to do 45 acres ofsweet potatoes.
That was my first try onfarming and the mistakes we made

(49:58):
were one we should have drilleda borehole.
But how do you drill a boreholeon a rented land, derek?

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Actually, that's quite funny.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
Yes, because what do you do to the borehole?
Will you put sand inside?
So we didn't want to take thatrisk.
Yeah, so we didn't drill a boho.
We didn't have an agronomist toourself.
We relied on the technicalsupport by another Ghanaian big

(50:28):
giants who is a farmer, who isan exporter, who said i'll'll
offtake, I'll buy the potatoes.
So I'm going to render servicelike I'll give you vines, I'll
give you technical support.
So we paid all our money to himwith high hopes.
We've done our figures.

(50:48):
It's looking good.
Look, we went through the plow,the vines were delivered, we
planted.
But beyond planting, therecomes the technicalities where
you need a hands-on agronomistto be there.
He sees this.
He says, hey, do that.
You call the farmer, tells youhey, I'm busy on my farm.

(51:09):
I'm in the middle of a meeting,my team will attend to you, and
there's no team coming.
Oh, my brother, I even had anmiddle of a meeting.
My team will attend to you, andthere's no team coming.
Oh, my brother.
I even had an accident with mycar.
Just thinking me of all people.
You know how women we arecareful driving.
I was behind my car before Irealized I hit inside someone's
car and the guy was like what'swrong with you, didn't you see?

(51:29):
I said I'm sorry.
The only thing that saved mewas the fact that I had records
to show these partners.
When we are plowing, I takevideos.
When delivery of vines are made, I show invoices.
When we buy knapsack sprayers,drums for mixing of fertilizers,

(51:53):
I take pictures, videos, whenany payment.
I make sure I drop theevidences.
That's the only thing thatsaved my name and my integrity.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
If not and I've been- how much money did the entire
team invest in that business Indollar terms?

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Every, I think the list between five to ten
thousand dollars and we have ourfive.
So I did five Myself.
The other lady did ten.
Another guy in the US did ten,did $10,000.
The guy in Germany did $9,000.
The UK guy did $5,000.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
What $5,000?

Speaker 1 (52:43):
No five acres Right right, right so the amount when
you're looking at that time isaround between $5,000 to $10,000
.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Per plot.
Per the acres Right so eachacre, you spent about $10,000 no
, no.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
So the 5 acres cost you about $5,000, right, and
then the 10 acres will go morewow, yes, and all that money was
lost of course we lost.
What happened was that we putour calculations on the export
of the produce, because when youharvest and the harvest, so per

(53:19):
the calculation, the big mangave us your export quality if
it's between 50% to 70% of theharvest.
Abu mama apeke.
I see.
And then 30% if it's not so good.
So, because of the export, theylook at things like the size,
the skin of the produce and afew pertinent things.

(53:41):
But here's the case that wewere.
That's why I said rainfallfarming cannot be the order of
the day.
So, we planted, the rains we'renot coming.
When we are supposed to applyfertilizer, there is no rain.
The kind of fertilizer you use,it has to rain enough.

(54:02):
The ground needs to be wet.
So when you apply your urea andwhatever it soaks into the soil
that the plant uses, it was notcoming.
Then again, when an agronomistneeds to come on time, he's busy
on another farm or he's busysomewhere.
So you wait and the time isgoing by.
The time we're supposed toharvest, it takes three months

(54:24):
to harvest potatoes.
We took extra one month toharvest, so a lot of things went
wrong.
So we lost big money.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
No, no, no, no, no, well over 100,000.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
We lost big money and that's why I said if you're
going into famine, take yourtime.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Do you think you should have started on?
Maybe an?

Speaker 1 (54:47):
acre to understand the system and then do
incrementally.
So I stopped trusting.
Because I invested that much,because of the trust I had for
this big man.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Let's not call him big man.
I guess he's not a big man ifhe can't keep it wet.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Because of the trust I had, and so I should.
Even if it was just my fiveacres that went down the drain,
it would have been okay, butothers are involved.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Did you put those people involved?
Did you put them together?

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Because I announced I have an influence and so I said
hey guys, I'm at this place,I'm going to do farming.
If you want to join me, jump onit.
And they jumped on it.
Yeah.
But it didn't go well.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
Wow yeah.
But it didn't go well, wow, yes, and you know.
Sorry about that.
I mean, I mean again, you can'tbe too careful.
You can't be too careful, youdo what you can, but sometimes
you know there are a lot ofunscrupulous people around, yeah
, and you can never really tell.
You know are a lot ofunscrupulous people around, yeah
, and you can never really tell,you know.
But I am I'm sure your audienceunderstand that this was not

(56:01):
intentional, because if it wasintentional you still wouldn't
be in the business exactly.
You would have run away exactlyyou still wouldn't be in the
business.
In this, your industry ofjournalism, you have people who
can stay in that industry forabout 30 years, 25 years.
They are still on TV.
A young girl who just graduateddid journalism.

(56:24):
You have dreams of maybe goingon TV, but then the old sharks
are still on TV right.
Not giving room for the youngerones to come in.
You took such a bold step tosay that I want to do my own
thing.
New media what are you tellingthe younger ones?

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Don't let fear overcrowd your vision.
Fear is a dream killer.
It stops you from attainingyour potential.
I lost money with my potatoes,but then again, with the support
of another agency, I have 6.3acres and this time around I

(57:04):
want to do things better bygetting a boho, having an
agronomist on site and thengoing into my production.
If you want to do TV or want todo radio, do not only be
inspired by the senior on TV.

(57:25):
Have your own identity and haveyour unique production, your
unique self.
A lot of the times I hearpeople say you're inspiring me,
I want to be like you.
I say no, don't be like me, beyourself.
It takes a lot to produce acontent.

(57:46):
So if you want to start being acreator, you can learn on the
job.
You can go and write forattachment or volunteer works.
It's just for you to learn howto script, how to direct, how to
host, how to do any pertinentproduction work.

(58:08):
You can do that for some sixmonths or one year, depending on
your strength.
Then look for a niche area, orone year, depending on your
strength.
Then look for a niche areawhere a lot of people are not
there.
You see, there are some sectorsin the journalism space that
when you go there it will taketime for you to shine.
Okay, like politics, forinstance, there are sects who

(58:33):
are presenters in politics.
So when you be like you, youwill take long to be recognized,
unless, of course, you go theother way, which you know you
will disrespect industry.
people talk big.
Then you say, hey, who is thisone to?
But is that a brand you want tocreate?
No, want to.

(58:58):
But is that a brand you want tocreate?
No.
So look for gray areas wherepeople are not exploring and tap
into that.
That is number one.
Number two is be willing toinvest the little you have.
I always say that before Iowned my equipment, I was using
my money to pay for rentingcameras and paying crew until I

(59:21):
grew to a certain level and Icould own equipment.
But there are those who have thedesire but taking the risk to
make that desire a reality.
They don't want to.
So who will give you the money?
Me, I won't give you money ifyou have nothing to show.
If you come to me that I know Iwant to produce and I ask you

(59:43):
what have you produced so far?
And you tell me, no, it's juston paper, or I just have it in
my head.
I'm sorry, but I cannot risk mymoney like that.
So before you go seeking forhelp, go with something to show,
then it is worth supporting andthen, thirdly, pay your dues.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
Go through the process.
There are a lot of youngjournalists who want to cut
corners and be at the top Again.
I always say what brand are youcreating?
Is it a brand that, when it'smentioned, I didn't know you
were investigating or talking topeople about me, but then what
were the stories that were told?
Were they negative?

(01:00:31):
If it was, you wouldn't bringme here, because you respect
your brand.
So pay your dues, take yourtime, go through, respect
whoever you need to respect.
Greet Carry bags.
I was once a productionassistant on Morning Ride.
Then days when we mentionedMorning Ride, it was one of the
biggest shows and it was hostedby Aninta Osu.

(01:00:53):
I used to hold her shoes, herbags.
Enyo, bring my dress, I'm goingEnyo.
At times when you're done withproduction transport you don't
even get, but the next SaturdayI'm the first to come.
That is where I learned a lotand when she has time, she'll is
where I learned a lot and whenshe has time she said to you

(01:01:14):
Daniel, learn and make sure whenyou have money you invest.
Don't be so much about theflashy dresses and bags and
things.
Make sure at the end of the day, when you are leaving TV, you
have a place to sleep.
Don't be thinking about flashylifestyle.
I said yes, mommy, and so learnto pay your dues and when you

(01:01:34):
get there, you'll be respectedand accorded that credibility.
I watched a video and the mansaid money is not physical cash,
it's about the integrity, thecredibility.
Who can vouch for you when youare not in that room, when
recommendations are happening?

(01:01:54):
The names have been mentioned.
Who mentions your name, derekthat?
I know one, derek.
If you give him this job, hewill deliver.
Who does that?
So, as a young presenter,creator or journalist, make sure
you pay your dues.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
There's a lot of things in this industry where,
especially for the young ladies,they go through a lot of issues
before they can get to theladder.
What were some of thechallenges?

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
for you.
I mean it's normal.
I mean men making advances.
So long as you're a beautifulwoman, people will make advances
to you.
They would hey, there is thisshow, I'd love to get you to
host it.
There's this project I'd loveto put you on it.
Can we meet for dinner?
Can we meet for lunch?

(01:02:46):
Can we meet for this?
And so when you're in a hurry toget to the top, then you fall
for some of these lies, if Ishould say, because, at the end
of the day, some of these lies,the promises that are made, are
not fulfilled.
So, as a young woman, take yourtime.

(01:03:08):
If you don't have the tolerance, the spirit of patience, the
spirit of taking one step at atime, then you'll fall for some
of this.
So why don't you go through thestep-by-step grooming and when
the promises are made, don'tfall for it.

(01:03:29):
Fall for it.
If only you were confident ofyour craft and you have some
little resources, you can startweaving your phone.
I tell people I never wanted tobuy an iPhone.
By the time I got to that point, I needed to own an iPhone, but
the iPhone bought itself out ofmy work.

(01:03:52):
I didn't have to struggle to buyan iPhone.
I was using 12 Pro.
Today I use 16 Pro, and eventhe 16 Pro it was a gift from
one of the clients I work with.
I got a drone from a client.
I'm promoting their product.
So that's what I always say thatyou might never know the eyes

(01:04:17):
who are watching you.
You might never know thediscussions that are happening
with your name behind you, andso you've got to be careful.
Smile, say the hellos, attendthe programs if you wish to, but
you know Udimaya postedsomething on social media.

(01:04:39):
He says your net worth is yournet worth.
I was with him in Kenyarecently and he poured a lot of
sense.
He said Enyo, you see, thiswork we are doing, that's what
pay the bills, and so don't evendo free work.
When someone calls you, itmeans they need your service.
If you mention what you thinkyou deserve, they are allowed to

(01:05:03):
negotiate, but anything belowthe standard don't accept it,
because if you're not worth it,they wouldn't have come for you.
I've traveled to differentcountries.
I don't remember spending somuch money.
I don't remember spending.
The only time I spent money waswhen I was going to Uganda and

(01:05:24):
Kenya for the first time.
It was for me.
Maya said, hey, you've got toleave Ghana and go elsewhere.
Go and check out what you'redoing.
I said, okay, I'll save moneyand go.
And I went.
But every other country, fromRwanda to Turkey, zimbabwe, who
Count?
It was all sponsored.
Either go and do training SouthAfrica, I've gone to Cape Town.

(01:05:48):
It's companies who say, hey,we've seen the work you're doing
.
We were training journalists todo this.
Do you mind joining?
I said, why not?
You see me flying plane today.
It didn't come cheap.
I drive today.
It didn't come cheap.
I own a land today because ofthe Ghanaian farmer.
It didn't come cheap, it wasnot a walk in the park.

(01:06:09):
I've worked with a lot ofrenowned international
organizations like World FoodProgram.
Sorry, dali Dad Sono.
I've worked with a lot ofrenowned international
organizations like World FoodProgram.
Sorry, dali Dad Sono.
I've worked with I can't evenname.
But it took time to build thatcredible brand, attractive
enough that aligns with thatbrand's vision to want to come

(01:06:31):
to you and work with you.
So I always say that in Agregthe young people.
I tell them use your phone topromote Agreg.
I am a member of theAgriculture Influencers Network,
a network again created withthe support of Mastercard
Foundation.
Why is the Food and AgricultureMinistry not doing that?

(01:06:52):
Mofa or Ag great ministry willorganize programs and call
journalists from politics andbusiness to come and cover.
Why are our great journalistsnot giving priority and
attention in Ghana?
And so for me, I want it to bedifferent.
Derek, there are a lot of ourgreat journalists around, but I

(01:07:15):
got a call from a young man whosaid there's a program happening
in K and USC and his boss saidlook for a young lady who is
championing agri to be a speaker.
And when they go on theinternet to type agri-journalist
or agri-this, my name pop upfirst.
Okay, and he went to check meout and he thinks I'm the best

(01:07:36):
candidate.
How are you carving the brandyou claim you have?
That's food for thought.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Wow, this is what we do best, right, be silent.
Listen and learn At this point.
If you haven't subscribed,please do, and learn At this
point.
If you haven't subscribed,please do.
Is there anything we could havespoken about that we haven't?

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
that we still think we can talk about.
If you're an unemployedgraduate, especially one that
has studied agri, and you'reunemployed because government
hasn't posted you to agovernment farm or no farmer has

(01:08:21):
called you to come and renderyour service in your home and
you're complaining, I thinkyou're doing yourself a great
disservice, because if I, whohadn't studied at Grincon
College, can do consultation forboth people home and abroad and

(01:08:44):
charge a fee, come on now.
You're doing yourself a greatdisservice.
Unemployed graduate associationyou are a proud member of that.
Really, that should be scrapped.
Derek, why did we get trainedin school?

(01:09:05):
It's to use the brain, thinkcreatively and apply it.
What are you doing withextension, general agri and
everything that you've learned?
What I'm saying to a young agricollege graduate is that there
are a lot of helpless farmerswho need your service.

(01:09:25):
So register a business and sellyour service and make money.
Poverty is a choice, my brother.
If you want to be poor in Ghana, it's a choice.
If you want to live good, makemoney, it is also a choice.
Someone once told me wherethere's a problem is where he

(01:09:50):
gets his money, because you see,that's where he will create
solution and get the money fromyour pockets.
I can't force you to give memoney, derek, but if I know the
problem that you have and I canfind a solution for you, I will
easily get money from youwithout having to ask for it.

(01:10:11):
There are a lot of diasporanswho have farms in Ghana.
Even there are a lot ofGhanaian people who have farms
and are looking for extensionagents, because in Ghana, one
extension officer is to about750 or 1000 farmers.
That is bad, very bad, and soif you, who is not assigned by

(01:10:40):
government, you can't packageyour service and sell so people
can reach out to you, then youdecide to be poor now.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Motivation or discipline.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
Discipline.
Okay, because if I'm notdisciplined, I would have used
all the good monies I'm makingfor flashy stuff.
You know, do the big makeups,wear the big wigs.
Someone asked me one time whyare you wearing this?
I said this, the big wigs.
Someone asked me one time whyare you wearing this hair?
I said this one is the cheapest.
I like this one.
I just bath inside, I use mystyling gel.

(01:11:22):
I'm good to go this one.
I wear this till.
God knows when I've worn wigsbefore, derek, when I was doing
business trends.
I wear wigs.
I do the makeups.
I change clothes every time themoney was going.
But today, when I wasdisciplined with my money, I'll

(01:11:44):
is, if nothing at all.
I own a land, I'm building ahouse, I drive a comfortable car
.
If I want want to travel, I cango.
I'm married to an entrepreneuras well.
My husband is into branding andmarketing, and so imagine
nobody pays us at the end of themonth.

(01:12:04):
We write our paychecks, and soif you're not disciplined and
the motivation of fashion leadsyou, you'll become broke.

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
Wow, wow, ayanam, what's the best advice you've
ever received?
Hmm, Hmm.
This happens all the time.
It happens all the time.
That's a hard one, huh?

Speaker 1 (01:12:33):
Hmm, but we'll wait.
We have the time.
It happens all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
That's a hard one, huh, but we'll wait.
We have the time.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
The best advice I've ever received.
Best advice.
It's to build a legacy.
Okay, you see, in your absence,what people remember and talk
about matters a lot.
If you are remembered byfriends or business associates,

(01:13:07):
what do they remember you totalk about?
Yesterday, when I met thisgentleman from the UK who said
because of you, I've relocatedto Ghana.
Because of you, I've investedwith one of the young farmers
you've interviewed and today hisfarm is blowsome.
Because when I went toGabriel's farm, he has about six
or eight greenhouses but he wasusing just two because he

(01:13:32):
didn't have the money to.
You know, work on the others,but today Gabriel's farm is
blossoming because of you.
You have no idea what you dofor us in the diaspora.
What is so inspiring?
This guy will say this thingsomeday when he hears that the
NUNAM is no more around.

(01:13:52):
I want to be remembered and mylegacy will make people smile
the Ghanaian farmer can yourecommend a book for us?
the book I'm currently readingwas written by a Ghanaian.
Ok, he was talking about theAfrican advantage.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Right Senior man Obendakun.
Thank you, yes, that's my myboss, senior.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Obendakun, that your book is powerful.
I'd like to say thank you somuch for your time.
I appreciate it to say thankyou so much for your time.
I appreciate it because I knowyou have to rush back to the
office very quickly and getthings done.
I appreciate it and hopefullyyou come to my farm very soon.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
I'm waiting.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
And for my viewers and my listeners.
If you've enjoyed thisconversation and you made it to
the end, we know exactly what todo.
Please leave a comment and letme know who.
You've enjoyed thisconversation and you made it to
the end, we know exactly what todo.
Please leave a comment and letme know who you are.
And don't forget the 29th ofAugust.
That event is going to bemind-shifting.
That's it.
It's called Revealing theSuccess Code.
My name is Derek Abayite andstay connected, I'm out.