Participants at the just-ended Citi FM’s Operation Feed Yourself Forum have lauded the station for organizing the agribusiness event that provided insight on the potential business opportunities within the agricultural value chain.
The one-day event assembled some of the best brains with experience in agribusiness to showcase to participants, most of whom had no prior experience and limited knowledge in commercial farming, factors to consider in starting up a farming business and scaling up.
“I have always had a little interest in agribusiness and I wanted to see if I could start something with it. The event has been very helpful. It has given me insight into what I could possibly do and what next steps I could take to join the industry,” Hubert Quaye, financial accountant, told Citi Business News at the end of the event.
According to Roselyn Siaw, Communications Manager for the Ghana Commodity Exchange, the event has provided her with many options regarding what to venture into as her part-time business in the coming year.
Ms. Siaw, who was in the company of Tucci Goka Ivowi, Deputy CEO of the Exchange to share some insight with participants about the workings of the Ghana Commodity Exchange, left the venue with enough ideas to start her own agribusiness.
“Personally, I have been looking at 2020 having something to do on the side in addition to my career. Now I am thinking I could do agriculture. It’s given me a lot to think about. A lot of challenge has been put to me. Aside from having to make an income or impact to be made from this Operation Feed Yourself or food sufficiency; it is a great programme which I think should be scaled.”
“The speakers were chosen very well. We had very practical things and so agric doesn’t look like a job reserved for certain people. Now, even though I don’t have an agricultural background, I know it is doable because I have had people like me talk about their experience,” Ms Siaw told Citi Business News.
The event attracted people of various professional backgrounds ranging from lawyers, medical doctors, pharmacists, engineers, accountants, bankers among others.
One of such people is Emmanuel Asher, who is into gold exporting.
He told Citi Business News that although he has a passion for agriculture, he is yet to start anything in that regard.
“I have gotten to know about a lot of things that I didn’t know existed. Personally, I think it has been very helpful. I have a lot of friends who have not figured out what they want to do now…I am going to share with them the information I gathered here. We all want to make money,” he added.
About the event
The one-day event is the first in the series of activities lined up under the Citi FM’s Operation Feed Yourself Project, which was outdoored by the CEO of Citi FM and Citi TV, Samuel Attah-Mensah, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the radio station.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Attah-Mensah hinted that a field trip to selected farms would soon be organized to afford participants more practical insights.
Mr. Attah-Mensah, who recently begun the campaign on the consumption of rice produced locally, said the media house continues its quest for development driven by the private sector with another event, Christmas Made in Ghana fair.
The event, which comes off on December 15, 2019, at the Aviation Social Center in Accra, will showcase a wide array of consumer goods made locally, which consumers can buy to support the local economy as against the reliance on imported ones for the coming yuletide.
