Watch out for Femi Salami; an amazing entrepreneur taking bold steps and dreaming big in the Agricultural sector

The Nigerian business environment is generally considered to be among the toughest in the world, thereby making  it a common thing when lots of young and sometimes, established businesses suddenly go out of business.

However in this tough environment, some have found their paths to success and are even working towards greater heights. One of such is Oluwafemi Excel Salami, CEO of Sailthrough Farms, who has been able to withstand storms and challenges in the Nigerian agricultural sector and is now working towards bigger things.

He shared his story in an interview with Attain.


Please Kindly tell us about yourself?

My name is Oluwafemi Excel Salami. I am the CEO of SailThrough farms limited and the founder and pioneer of the Millionaire in Agribusiness Revolutionary Concept aka MIA.



Tell us about your business Brand(s)?

SailThrough farms limited is currently into poultry, crop farming and commodity trading. We have a 1500 broiler birds capacity farm, a 3.5 hectares maize farm and run commodity trading on the side.

The MIA as I have always said is not just an online group. Its a MOVEMENT! We intend to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that millionaires can be made from agribusiness. We are saying enough is enough to the past poverty image created around agriculture

The MIA which started in December 2017 has so far empowered over 1000  people with the adequate knowledge and resources they need to start up and scale up any agribusiness.

The MIA through its specialized classes on the following areas:

-Bee keeping and honey processing

-Commodity Trading

- Poultry Farming

-Poultry Feed Formulation

Etc...has in its second edition trained over 30 persons.

Just so you know I am not doing all these alone. I have a very strong and reliable partner by name Osita Chiemeke, two workers on our farm and a network of able youth with which we have accomplished so much in all our businesses.


What solutions/contributions does your Brand provide?

As I have said earlier, we run the following businesses:
1. Poultry Farming
2. Crop farming
3. Soft commodity Trading
4. Consultancy

So we provide solutions to poultry related problems. For example, there are some farmers who are closing up their farms as a result of the hike in feed prices. We help in teaching them how to make their feeds instead saving almost 30% on cost of production.

Our poultry farm, crop farm and commodity trading ensures that the average Nigerian gets food at the cheapest rates possible. So yeah, we are fighting hunger by providing healthy meat and healthy food at very cheap rates.

On our online platforms, we help in coaching young youths in the field of agriculture/agribusiness by organizing Seminars and specialized classes for interested individuals. I mentioned earlier that we have so far trained over 1000 people and amazingly most of our seminars are free. You can join us on our telegram community here https://t.me/MillioniaresInAgribusiness


What were the main challenges you faced early on in your business and entrepreneurial journey?

Our major challenge on starting up was adequate knowledge and skills on the business. We started out in November 2014 and at the time you could hardly get people who were ready to educate or provide you help on the business. There were a lot of "this is how to do it" and "no that's wrong" from people within our location. So we made serious mistakes resulting in great losses that made us almost quit but thank God we didn't.

Our major challenge at the beginning wasn't capital for even if we had got a million naira upon starting out, we would have lost it all since we weren't very equipped to see the business through. We kept striving, learning and improving. Now, look where we are today, from a 50 broiler birds capacity farm to a 1500 broilers and diversification into different niches just in 3 years 9 months.

What was the biggest challenge you ever faced in your entrepreneurial journey?

The biggest challenge was funding and location. After we had gotten the knowledge and skills and had ran a few rounds to confirm we were doing just fine. The next thing was how to apply these skills on a large scale and this was a very big challenge because first it will require a lot of funding and a good location to thrive. As you know, a poultry farm is best located at a place of about 8km from residence and close to road or with a good road network to ease transportation of feed ingredients, birds and to help your customers find you easily.

To solve this problem, we started showing our results and records to people and called out for investors and like magic, things started working out. We got investors who helped us moved from less than 250 broilers to a 1500 broilers currently. What I mean is, we moved from a 250 broiler birds capacity farm to a 1500 broiler birds capacity farm without a bank loan.


At what point did you begin to achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey and how did it happen?

Our success started at the point when we discovered how to make poultry feeds. This was a major breakthrough to us because feeds constitute about 70% in the cost of production of birds. Being able to make feeds and finding ways to cut down on cost was a major breakthrough because we at the time not only have found a solution for our farm but for many other farmers too. This also meant more profits and stability for our business.

What would you consider your greatest achievement so far in your entrepreneurial journey?

Our  greatest achievement for me is being able to have helped several other youths start up in the same industry. Also, being able correct the old notions people usually have about farmers. I mean, farmers have always been known to be poor and dirty and several times have been called all names belittling.

The MIA has helped to correct this and even more empowered several others who are making great progress. Knowing that you're progressing while helping others progress is a huge achievement for us. I am grateful every day that we are able to do this.


If you could go back in time, what are the changes you would have made in your business/ entrepreneurial journey?

That would be to have got the necessary skills and knowledge first before ever starting out. What we did at the point of start up was "trial and error" and we suffered great losses but thank God we survived through it all.


What should we see you doing in the Future?

Our goal is to build a 100,000 broilers and layers farm. So actually we haven't done anything yet and our other businesses are still very small because what we intend to do is to ensure an average Nigerian is able to afford meat or food and this would require serious expansion in all our businesses. Also, we intend to be one of the major employers of labour in the agriculture/agribusiness sector.

 Currently, we are building a website. This will help put all our businesses in one place and help us reach more people. We are also increasing our awareness online social media handles. From where we stand now, its a little compare to where we see ourselves 10 years from now but we are very certain and confident that we will get there and this might not even be long.


What's your greatest lesson currently in business?

Never play with records. Data collation and proper record keeping is key to success in business. Every time we speak with investors, their interest have always been in what we have done and what we have achieved so far and if we hadn't been careful with keeping these records they wouldn't have been willing to trusting us with their money.



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