Sabastine, the chief executive officer of Sabifon, a company that produces, packages, and distributes agricultural food items, especially African breadfruit popularly known as Ukwa, says Japa creates the fastest route for Nigerian businesses to earn foreign currency.
By Ishaya Ibrahim
A 2023 poll by the Nigerian Social Cohesion Survey estimates 73 percent of Nigerians as willing to relocate to other countries for greener pastures. But Ifeanyi Sabastine Onyeka sees another business opportunity in that mass migration, AKA Japa.
He sees the food sector as an avenue to make marks and earn good cuts. For Sabastine, a graduate of mechanical engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri, the food industry is the real deal. And with Nigeria’s 200 million people, the market is limitless.
Sabastine, the chief executive officer of Sabifon, a company that produces, packages, and distributes agricultural food items, especially African breadfruit popularly known as Ukwa, says Japa creates the fastest route for Nigerian businesses to earn foreign currency.
He told TheNiche: “The Japa syndrome presents even more opportunity for some of us in the agricultural sector. There are those that Japa (leave the country) and look out for Nigerian and African foods. If you can produce a good product and package it well, you can earn in foreign currency.”
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He founded Sabifon in 2015, a company located in Ihiala local government area of Anambra State, with a niche for packaging and distribution of Ukwa.
Chasing an elusive capital
Ukwa is one meal that people in the South East do not joke about. It is a meal that someone once jokingly said its aroma alone could make a dead man salivate to the point of waking up.
But starting an agro-business in Nigeria is no tea party.
“We all need food at the end of the day, don’t we? But we refuse to encourage farming and the production of food,” he observed with pains at the scant regard paid to the sector by governments, creditors, and investors.
He had a first-hand experience of this disappointment when on graduation, he discovered the goldmine in breadfruit, a highly nutritious food product greatly revered by people from southeast.
His business plan was straightforward – to leverage his mechanical engineering skill by building a system that could process and package sand-free, fast-cook and tasteful Ukwa. But sourcing capital for the business turned out a hunt for squirrel in a jungle.
He said: “Sourcing capital was one of the biggest challenges I faced then and even now as we work to expand.
“While starting, I wrote numerous letters to uncles, friends and even Anambra State Government agencies seeking for funding to no avail. In fact, Anambra State wrote me that I could be funded if only I could obtain the approval from National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as well as collateral to back up the requested fund, forgetting that the fund was meant to be able to put in place facilities to meet NAFDAC approval requirement.
“I lost hope in the possibility of external funding, when after two years of seeking, I decided to seek for only 10% of the early amount, but I still met a deadlock. There and then I made a life-changing decision, to jettison external fund seeking and start with whatever I had at that moment.”
Sabastine decided to put on his gloves and went to work, relying almost on faith as his working capital.
He said: “I produced a small quantity of the product, then went online to seek for buyers and I immediately got a customer who ordered for 20kg and paid in advance. I produced and delivered. Then she ordered 100kg and that is how we started.”
Once Sabastine got the ball rolling, another unexpected challenge surfaced. He had no NAFDAC endorsement, hence, shops wouldn’t accept to display and sell the product.
“It took us three years to put in place the basic facilities for NAFDAC approval and it took us another two years to get the approval,” he recalled.
“Since then, we have distinguished our product, producing and packaging the best dried Ukwa in the market,” he added.
The challenge of expansion
Having put his business going, Sabastine decided to expand. It was then he met his greatest shock.
He said: “After I registered the business with my then residential address, in the city of Onitsha, Anambra State, I realized I could not afford the cost of renting the required accommodation and facilities needed for NAFDAC approval, so I decided to relocate our production operations to a village and only sell the finished product in the cities.
“Having achieved that, I decided to pitch my business to a newly found friend outside Nigeria. He agreed to fund me and take some percentage in return.
“With that seeming breakthrough, I then confidently started putting machineries in place, by obtaining little funds here and there from family and friends, with the assurance of a payback as soon as my investor-friend released funds. The move was to facilitate things and cover up for the period before the release of funds.
“The shocker came after agreeing with my investor-friend to appoint a Nigerian representative. He did and they decided to pay a secret visit to my work site. But instead of visiting my clearly stated production location, the fellow visited my residential address used for business registration. He concluded that no such business existed there.
“My investor-friend called off the deal after over three months of negotiations and waiting. That action left me shattered and devastated. It set my business back for one year, because I had to resort to on-demand production to payback family and friends for the money borrowed.”
Challenges for young entrepreneurs
On what challenges young businesses face in Nigeria, Sabastine identified accessing startup funding as top on the list.
“Neither government agencies nor financial institutions would provide funding for startups. In 2017, I participated in a federal government organized Youth entrepreneurship program Youth Enterprise with Innovation (YouWin), where we were promised training and seed capital. After the training, we were handed a certificate without a dime,” he recalled.
He also said the uncertain economic climate in Nigeria is a major threat to young businesses.
In his words: “You cannot make any business projection now with even 50% certainty. Price of diesel, transportation, power is messing up businesses.”
Notwithstanding the challenges, Sabastine still soldiers on, supplying customers with hygienically processed, sand-free, and easy-to-cook Ukwa.
The man, Sabastine
Sabastine was born and brought up in the city of Onitsha, Anambra State.
He had his primary and secondary education both in Onitsha and Lagos before proceeding to Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), to study Mechanical Engineering, during which he worked as a trainee at the Air Conditioning department at Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
On graduation from University in 2015, he decided to become an entrepreneur after researching the numerous problems associated with African Breadfruit product and having also been equipped with the knowledge of Mechanical Engineering to resolving them.
He founded Sabifon Ltd which was officially incorporated in 2017, with its production operations carried out in Azia, Ihiala local government area of Anambra State.
