As a Young Entrepreneur, Here’s How to Succeed in Agriculture.
If a young African entrepreneur in agriculture is aware of these points, he or she has a better chance of succeeding.
Read also: How To Start A Profitable Okra Farming Business.
So, you want to be a successful young agribusiness entrepreneur?
We had an intriguing conversation with a client who contacted us for services to start and maintain a piggery farm during this year’s farmers’ day celebration in Ghana. We asked a basic question to better understand the client’s demands and provide customized services. Why do you want to start a piggery? “I’ve heard it’s profitable,” he said flatly.
This remark was not hilarious, as the prospect of increased profits and financial freedom has fueled the ambitions of several successful entrepreneurs. The issue is that most people enter agriculture without first addressing the “why,” “how,” and “what” concerns that come with beginning a business.
In recent weeks, officials, lawmakers, and the media have urged Ghanaian young to pursue entrepreneurship as a way to combat the country’s rising youth unemployment rates. Agriculture is still the most popular sector for young people to start businesses in. I mean, why not?
The sector has immense potential, as African Development Bank President Akinwunmi Adesina memorably stated at the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy.
“The future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will emerge first from agriculture,” according to a report published in 2017. This clarifies the widespread idea of Africa’s and Africans’ potential. A largely unrealized potential.
So, why are you wondering if you could be a successful agripreneur (agribusiness owner)? There is an unmistakable realism. In Ghana, almost 75% of startups fail within the first three years. This, however, is not unique to Ghana.
This figure isn’t meant to discourage you from starting your own agricultural business. If it did, you are unprepared to go on this trip.
So, how do you make it as a business owner?
While there is no silver bullet for gaining success as an entrepreneur in any industry, there are a few important success elements that can help you enhance your chances of succeeding. A handful of these elements are explored further down.
1. Your vision and you.
You are the designer of your company’s success or failure. Your company’s vision should be considerably larger than just producing money. You are the personification of this idea as an entrepreneur, and the success of your business is determined by your ability, experience, and personality. You’re in charge of turning the business from a concept to reality. Passion is frequently mentioned as a crucial component of business success.
The entrepreneur’s commitment to the idea and seeing it through to a functioning entity demonstrates this passion. As an entrepreneur, you must be willing to accept and cope with failures and setbacks, as well as learn from them to improve and expand your operations. To ensure the success of your firm, you must be available and actively involved. “The best investment in agriculture is your footsteps to your farm,” as one successful agriculture entrepreneur puts it so plainly.
2. The item or service.
You should have a comprehensive understanding of your target market and how your product or service will fit into it. This could be an agricultural commodity like cultivated crops or livestock or agricultural value chain services like input delivery, extension consulting, and agritech (including the use of AI, blockchain, mobile technology, or other digital innovations to serve farmers and the value chain actors better). Whatever it is, you should have a marketable product.
Read also: Carrots: How to Grow, Plant, and Harvest In Ghana
It’s crucial to determine whether the product or service caters to a niche market at this time. Our client considering pig production, for example, could consider selling fresh pigs to restaurants and eateries, supplying them to cold stores, supermarkets, and meat markets, or selling live pigs to abattoirs. It’s crucial to understand your market and how your product fits in.
3. Business/Strategy Plan.
Many businesses fail because they don’t have a plan or strategy in place when they start. Market research and user research should be used to map the demands that your product will serve or the issues that your service will solve. Building a profitable firm necessitates the creation and implementation of a more robust business plan (how the business makes money).
Your business plan outlines the industry you wish to enter, the client base or potential customers, a budget plan to ensure wise spending, and understanding of the competition you’ll encounter, potential risks to your company, and how you’ll market your product or service.
4. The group you form
When your company can afford to hire additional employees other than yourself, who you choose, and how you convince them to buy into your vision, grasp the business strategy, and contribute to the company’s success are all key considerations. Building teams, especially at the start of a business, may make or break it.
5. Investment/Funding
Your thoughts must be racing as to why we haven’t yet discussed finance. Because for most people, the most important thing is to invest in a business. Any company’s lifeline is funding. A lack of funds to invest in the business is an undesirable situation for an entrepreneur to be in. Some entrepreneurs start small and expand their businesses without relying on outside capital.
Other funding sources include equity investors, crowdfunding, and so forth. Agriculture financing is a serious concern in Ghana. Agricultural entrepreneurs should start small and expand their firm and brand if they don’t have access to external finance. As the company expands, a stronger business strategy will make them investible.
The factors listed here aren’t all-encompassing. Entrepreneurs must be innovative, adopting digital solutions and leveraging data to optimize their business operations while focusing on delivering a better customer experience, whether it’s selling eggs from poultry production, livestock to market women, aggregating products from smallholder farmers, or providing digital solutions to farmers and value chain actors, to be successful in today’s market, regardless of industry.
Whatever your business goals are, there are opportunities in agriculture.
Take a risk and go for it.
