Hamis Okunbor experiments with local materials and often thinks outside the business box to improve them. His achievements underscore the fact that local materials are as good and useful as those imported.
One of the results of his restless mind is an oven for drying fish bred on his farm. Good quality cat fish dried with local materials, and tasty enough to enjoy insatiable demand.
Now he is working on how to export dried fish to earn dollars, a project he thinks the federal government should encourage farmers to explore since the resources are in abundant supply locally.
He said he has captured a significant share of the market in Igbo-Elerin, Okokomaiko, Lagos where two of his numerous ventures are located side by side.
After 35 five years of service, Okunbor retired as a Commodore from the Navy in 2012 into civilian life that sometimes leaves many of his colleagues like fish out of water.
Three years on, he has deployed his entrepreneurial knowledge to practical test. He is the promoter of popular relaxation spot, Fish Plus, and a big fish farm that supplies to it.
He is also working out strategies for earning hard currency by exporting dried cat fish from his farm which he said are quality breed.
How he devised the oven
One of his friends who returned from the Caribbean visited him when he was contemplating buying an imported oven for drying fish for sale at FishPlus.
“One day, he came around and I was about going to buy an oven. He said no, I shouldn’t go and buy an oven. He said the one he had bought from the Caribbean is a small drum like this with a dome. But not this kind of local drum.
“He just gave me an idea of all I needed to do to device one. Thereafter, I told myself why not get a local drum and build in layers where to place the fish and then put the fire beneath to dry the fish. So, I got the idea from him but developed it to suit the purpose using local materials.”
There are five drying compartments in each of the ovens. He transfers fish from one step to another depending on how much heat touches the fish. Drying fish takes a lot of time and has to be monitored regularly to ensure that it does not get burnt.
“The ones closer to the fire may begin to burn; so you need to move them up and drop the other ones from up down.”
Some of the dried fish packaged for hotels in Lagos are big ones weighing between 30 kilogrammes and 50 kilogrammes.
Entrepreneurial domain
Okunbor runs a sprawling fish farm with about seven big fish farming ponds. His farm can pass for one of the largest in Lagos. He produces cat fish and is experimenting on tilapia fish and fingerlings production for supply to other farms.
He said he could use tilapia to formulate a local feed variety because tilapia is a key component of fish feeds which appeals to most fish.
He has built ponds suitable for each experimental fish project, among which are ponds for fingerlings, rare species of tilapia, and for migrating them as they mature from one stage to another.
Training
Okunbor’s smooth transition from military service to entrepreneurship did not happen suddenly.
“I was sent to Lagos Business School’s Entrepreneurial Development Centre (EDC) where I took a course in entrepreneurship. That has helped in developing my own ideas, to see a broader picture of it. I passed through the school, and did what they called SAME 20. I was the President of SAME 20.”
While in service, he looked ahead to the day he would retire. He was aware of several military officers who ran into a crisis after retirement and thought of what he would do.
Three things crossed his mind. He could go into shipping, farming or hospitality. “These were the three main areas I was looking at. I can tell you that I still have a burning interest in these areas.
“I was very fortunate, because in every bad situation there could be something good coming out of it. All the while I was in service, I didn’t have the opportunity to have a command appointment, otherwise a juicy appointment. I have always thought of how to convert my one kobo to two until I was posted to the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC), Oshodi, Lagos.
“Then came a commandant who was also posted there, Air Vice Marshal Clement Aroriode. He had great ideas. He was my Commandant while I was his Director of Coordination. I was there in 2010 and he came later in 2011.
“For the short period, he was able to achieve so much. If it were possible to advise Defense Headquarters, I would say they should bring him back to implement the great ideas he had for the place so that people can retire into civil life hitch free.
“He had something like a blueprint and we worked according to that blueprint.”