Meet 2017 TEF Alumni, Olanrewaju Fadodun who started food processing and training services business
Fund Food Processing Business in Nigeria: Reducing food loss and creating opportunities for farmers to sell their farm produce in season and off-season was a priority for Olarewaju Fadodun. He transforms perishable farm products into non-perishable products that can stay outside their normal shelf lives.
In 2017, before the TEF program, Olanrewaju was only selling one product on the street around the city. Presently he has seven products in about nine states in Nigeria and has created direct jobs for 14 Nigerians. He provides farm jobs for women – 8 women working in his factory and several women selling his products in the markets with monthly revenue of about 5000 USD. His company has local and international partnerships, with the products leaving Nigeria’s coast to Europe and America.
African Success Story in Food Processing Business
Olarewaju said the seed capital and the 12 weeks of entrepreneurship training have been vital for his business. During the 2019 TEF forum, he was able to exhibit at the UBA marketplace and connected with several people that have impacted his business in terms of finances and recommendations.
“We have provided market opportunities for farmers -hundreds of tonnes of farm-produced processed. We have provided off-farm jobs for women- 8 women working in our factory and several women selling our products in the markets. We have created opportunity for industrial attachment for students- 12 students directly trained and more than 500 on excursion.”
About The Tony Elumelu Foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.