Oluwafemi Excel Salami is intelligent, hard working and also very passionate about what he does, he’s an inspiration as his business has created job opportunities for others. He speaks to Elorasblog in this interview.

Please introduce yourself and tell us more about your background?

My name is Oluwafemi Excel Salami. I am a native of Enwan in Akoko-Edo, Edo state. I reside in Kaduna Road, Niger state. I come from a very humble background and appreciate nature. I have a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

You’re an Entrepreneur, what does your business entails?

We currently run the following businesses:

  1. Poultry farming: we have a 1500 broiler birds capacity farm and are currently building another 5000 broiler bird capacity farm.

  2. Commodity trading: We help interested individuals buy commodities with high potential during its season, store and resell at off seasons. We try to study trends, understand the dynamics of each commodity, best storage techniques etc. The above helps us in the choice of best commodity likely to go up in price after its season.

  3. Processing: we have a few machines with which we process a few farm produce to either finished products or saleable form. We have for maize, rice and a melon sheller machine.

  4. Large scale farming: We have about 33 acres located separately in Dagigbe town, Niger state. The land is both fadama and plain field used for cultivation of rice, melon and maize.

  5. We also run other investment schemes but I won’t be able to give details since we will be making a few changes when the board meets by December.

What is the name of your business?

The name of our business is Sailthrough farms limited.

Did you attend any form of training?

Sincerely I didn’t and that was one of the reasons I failed greatly in my beginnings. Most of what I did at the beginning of my business were trial and error. I lost 50 birds the first time and another 100 birds the second time.

I knew then that I needed to at least learn something. Trainings were not available at my place at the time. I was in Niger state and it was in 2014. So what I did was to go around asking questions and return to experiment. I kept at it until gradually I was able to stabilise. Mortality rates came down. My birds started doing well and so we grew from 50 birds to 1500 broiler birds capacity today.

The other businesses came from research, observations and lots of brainstorming with my partners.

Photos of Sailthrough farms limited

What inspired you to start up Sail through Farms?

Frankly, I never started the business as a business per say. I went in at first just to find an alternative source of income and nothing more but the more I sold more birds the clearer it becomes and then one time during my service year, I followed a friend to visit a poultry farm. I saw for the first time, birds over 2500, though cockerel and just 2 weeks old. It occured to me that this thing could actually be done in large scale. For 2 weeks I kept on researching, the things I saw created a passion inside me. For the first time, I saw something that would not only put food on my table but provide jobs for others and then I saw also that the by products of the chicken(s) can be used to produce other useful products. It was shocking! So I kept on researching into other branches of agriculture and so the passion grew.

How were you able to raise fund to start up your business?

Most of the money used to start up came from menial jobs I did and personal savings.

What major challenges have you encountered in your business?

Some of the major challenges encountered in our business include:

  1. Adequate funding for scaling
  2. Enabling environment for speedy growth
  3. How to combine technology in all our businesses especially while involving people from rural areas.

What platform do use to advertise your business?

We use Facebook most of the times and then WhatsApp too. We are planning to start a YouTube channel and also improve on other platforms.

You’re the boss, how does it feel working for yourself?

Being a boss is actually tasking but very rewarding.

Will you say it’s been financially rewarding?

Yes it is but what’s more rewarding is the creation of jobs for ordinary people.

Where do you see your brand in 5 years?

We have recently acquired about an hectare of land and plan to add more with time. We intend to have the following within the same place:

  1. 5000 Broiler birds section
  2. 10000 layer birds section
  3. Processing unit
  4. Storage housing etc.

We have began with broiler section. In the next 5 years, we would have fully completed all. Then we will have a replica in South South, South east and South west.

We would have succeeded in creating more than 10,000 jobs and change the face of agriculture in Nigeria.

Contact:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salami.exceloluwafemi

Phone: 09050257637
WhatsApp: 07038690081

Email:elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com