Career
#BellaNaijaMCM Rotimi Olawale of JR Farms Africa is the Agriprenuer Providing Jobs & Food Security Across the Continent
Food business is serious business, and our #BellaNaijaMCM this week, Rotimi Adewale is one of the thriving young entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry across Africa.
Rotimi is the founder and CEO of JR Farms Africa, a leading agribusiness determined to transform agriculture in Africa by under- taking opportunities for growth and business that will engender sustainable food production and increased incomes for farmers in Africa.
JR Farms currently has operations in Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia and the U.S.A.
In Nigeria, the company works in the cassava value chain processing cassava to national staple “garri” which is consumed by over 80 million Nigerians on a daily basis.
In Rwanda, it works in the coffee value chain with over 4,000 coffee farmers spread across the east Africa country. JR Farms process, package and export coffee from Rwanda to various parts of the world. Among others, JR farms offer corporate beverage services to organisations.
While in Zambia, it is working in the cassava value chain to produce and promote cassava staple.
Rotimi is also the co-founder of Cedar Farmers Cooperative which issues credit facilities to subsistent farmers in rural areas across Nigeria. The initiative has been extended to rural farmers in Ivory Coast and Rwanda.
JR Farms Africa currently has two products: the JR Garri; and JR Coffee on sale across Africa.
Rotimi’s goal is simple: jobs creation and food security with a focus on Africa, and in the last four years, he has been doing this so well with JR Farms Africa.
Through JR Farms’ Inmates Farming Scheme, Rotimi has trained prison inmates in vegetable farming, an initiative which has been described as the first of its kind in the history of Nigerian Prison.
Olawale holds a Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Philosophy of Religion; he also holds certificate in Agribusiness Management Programme from the Lagos Business School.
He’s a 2019 nominee for The Future Awards Africa (TFAA) Prize for Agriculture.
