Yaa Aduba (L)
“The only insecure boys will belittle a woman. The greatest way to man-up is to empower women” – Steve Maraboli.
“The success of my poultry farm would not have gained momentum and popularity without the extraordinary help of my darling husband.
He, among all other things, empowered me with resource capital to undertake this poultry farming business after several attempts to gain employment from cooperative organizations” Yaa Aduba Chief Executive Officer of Naya Success Axis told Daily Guide.
Mrs. Yaa Aduba’s touching testimony was shared at the launch of the 4th Season of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP) Presidential Pitch weeks ago in Accra.
She highlighted her journey to establishing the poultry business, the fear and anxiety of pitching the business, and finally the excitement of been shortlisted among the top ten beneficiaries for the programme in 2019.
She said, “At the point where I received information that the NEIP has opened nominations for entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to the president all that was running through my mind was, can I do this? It took my husband to encourage me to go for it. Today, the influence and prestige of me being among those shortlisted for the grants cannot be over-emphasized.”
Mrs. Yaa Aduba is one out of many Ghanaians who through the mighty arms of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme have benefited from government flagship youth projects aim of making business minded youth unicorns of Africa.
Following keenly the testimonies of Yaa Aduba and her co-beneficiaries, for a second, the notion that the presidential pitch is an initiative to appease loyal members of the elephant family vanishes into the thin air. (I will revisit this statement again).
According to Yaa Aduba, she started her poultry business in 2018 at the backyard of her father’s house at Adenta with 300 birds in a 20 by 80 feet size poultry house.
As time went by the business started expanding serving neighboring community within the Adenta Municipal Assembly hence there was the need to relocate the poultry station to a more spacious area which can accommodate over 5,000 birds.
At the point in time when she had the idea to relocate for her business expansion the ambitious poultry farmer had difficulties in accessing for funds and investments for the businesses.
“NIEP Presidential pitch presented itself for innovative minds like me to get a funding support from the government and for the first time my guts told me to go for it. I applied and I won a whooping amount of GH¢25,000amount for the sixth position of the contest. After I heard my name as a winner I felt sick for three days,” she said.
She screamed on top of her voice, saying, “that was the first time I had a huge cheque written in my name there and then, the calls started trooping in with congratulatory messages from friends I have not even heard from over decades now”.
She also revealed that after the pitch money was deposited into the business account they had to mobilize funds, bought the land and invested the money into rebuilding a new chapter of the businesses.
Poultry Challenges
As a result of the mileage received from winning the presidential pitch she knew there was one tasked to accomplish, which was to meet the expectations from customers. My interactions with Yaa Aduba made me understand that the responsibility that comes with winning a pitch such as the presidential pitch for that matter comes with a heavy burden one can’t comprehend.
“The demand for the eggs was too much that there where instances when I had to sleep over at the new located farm here at Aburi to supervise my workers in other to meet the demands from customer. This was a great challenge to me but then I had to deliver and I gladly did,” she said.
She also laid emphasis on the challenges of the cost of poultry feed, which affect the production of the eggs for consumption.
Approximately, it estimated that feed costs account for about 70% of the overall cost of poultry production.
For higher egg laying, production depends on the poultry feed which also varies depending on the bird’s genetic strain and age and the surrounding environmental conditions. Also, the amount of nutrients in most poultry feeds which include protein supplements, vitamin supplements, mineral supplements and other preventative feed additives contributes to egg production .
She reveals that cost of a bag of feed for layers to 5,000 birds is GH¢4000 while a bag of layers feed to 4000 birds cost GH¢300 on a daily basis.
Yaa Aduba said considering the ever-increasing prices of feed for poultry birds, farmers are pushed to seek for alternative ways to feeding their birds without taking into account the nutritional contents of the feeds for the birds.
“The question you need to ask yourself is the ingredients in your feed contributes to your flock’s growth and performance? Feed quality is vital, as it plays a significant role in both intake and digestibility. With feed costs representing up to 70% of the total production costs, ensuring optimal feed quality and maximum feed efficiency should be a top priority for all poultry farmers” she advised.
Yaa Aduba entreated farmers to adopt calculating feed conversion ratios at all stages of production, as this will reveal any drops in performance, thereby signaling that changes to the feed may be required.
No Politic Comment
There is always a notion that the grants are meant to appease the grassroots members of NPP party for their effort in supporting the party executive mandate of remaining in power instead of benefiting the right people who are in the dire need of the support.
The presidential pitch suffered from the same public criticism.
“Why should you be a party faithful before you can benefit from the Presidential pitch? If you are an entrepreneur with innovative ideas and business plan come and pitch, “this were the exact words from the NEIP Boss Kofi Owusu Nkansah in a face-to-face interview said.
Just as the poultry farmer said you need to know the business and pitch, ‘Finito’.
Presidential Pitch Entry
The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) has launched the fourth Presidential Pitch to help boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.
It is a deliberate, systematic, and integrated policy initiative by the NEIP, as a special purpose vehicle for job creation, to help reduce youth unemployment.
The competition focuses on the Agriculture, Fintech and technology, Manufacturing and processing, Tourism and the creative arts, TVET and any other economically viable area. Also, the applications will be narrowed down from the usual 20 to top 25. Check https://neip.gov.gh/
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke