Mr. Oluwole Olusanjo Philip is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abeokuta-based Global Academy for Creativity and Innovation, an outfit that is into production of Iru (locust bean) and other food condiments and machinery. In this chat with Financial Vanguard in Abeokuta, Olusanjo Philip speaks on his business and the challenges, saying he was able to start industrial production through the help of Federal Government’s YouWin programme.
Excerpts:
Background:
After his primary and secondary school education in Kwara State, he gained admission into the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1993/1994 session where he read Archeology and graduated in 1997/98 session. Thereafter, he went back for his master’s degree in Anthropology still in University of Ibadan. He later gained employment with the same university and left in 2007 as Assistant Registrar.
Going into business:
Mr. Olusanjo left a lucrative job to follow his heart. He said: “When I realised my potentials in entrepreneurship, I went to Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife for formal training in entrepreneurship. “I later started my business but my dream of starting industrial production was still in the pipeline until I got empowered by the Federal Government through the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin).
Olusanjo Philip
With that, I was able to start industrial production. “I was the first to package iru (fermented African locust beans also known as Carob beans or by its scientific name, Parkia biglobosa) in a modern way. “We process locust beans from scratch to finish. The finished product is dry and we have two variants – the powdered one and the grain but they are both in sachets.”
Advantages:
“Remember I was one of the first to start industrial production of iru but I was the first to package it in modern way. Some of the advantages of industrial processing is that we have taken away some of the shortcomings in the traditional iru,” he said.
Although people are aware of the health benefits of locust beans which include: improvement of vision, digestion aid, blood pressure control in hypertensive patients, control of blood sugar and bad cholesterol level in diabetic patients, and helps in stomach and mouth ulcer treatment, some have refused to eat it because of its very pungent smell.
Said Olusanjo: “Some people do not eat it because it smells, it gets spoilt easily and it is prone to contamination. Not only that, it contains a lot of impurities and foreign materials like stones, chaffs etc and also because it is not readily available. You have to go down to the market to get it but now, all those shortcomings have been taken care of.
pepper
You now have a refined locust bean without impurities, no odour as it now has very good aroma and well packaged. It is very handy and you can get it almost anywhere. “We also have ground pepper packaged in sachets. It is produced from our local pepper, undiluted unlike what you get in the market that is mixed with colouring or ground kolanut. We source our raw materials locally.”
Initial cost:
“I started the business with my personal savings of two million naira and then I got empowerment through YouWin like I said earlier in the sum of N6.2 million. I have to give kudos and thanks to President Goodluck Jonathan for that initiative,” he enthused. Olusanjo who presently has nine employees, said he has invented three machines to enhance production.
His words: “I have invented three machines to enhance our industrial production. You discover that some of the machines we read about in the papers, like dehauler, washer etc., are not effective but personally, I have invented two models of dehaulers, a washer and a fermentor for industrial processing of iru.
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