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@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest My advice to African farmers is to start quickly, because the more you try, the more you will learn, but with something small that you can afford. I have a friend here in Kaduna who started a company called Sack Farms a few years ago. He taught people to grow in their back yards.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest This is a relatively low-risk, low-cost way of trying your hand at agriculture, to see if you have what it takes and if you LIKE growing things. I think it's beautiful and magical to see a plant grow every day, but this is not for everyone. Agric is a tough master.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest Every time you learn something, you have to wait a year to apply that lesson because farming is seasonal. And if you want to run a large farm, you will need LOTS of expensive assets. In business school I learned about the concept of a minimum viable product, or MVP.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest I think designing your MVP is really important. You know what? Actually I'm just going to paste the slides I did for @Afrinvest in here. I think they're applicable.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest Ok I don't really understand how to do this so each step is coming as its own tweet... 
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest After you do your desk research, do some field research. This can be done relatively cheaply and is super vaulable. My friend @AffiSupaStar said earlier today that the information you're looking for is out there, you just need to go and find it. She is 100% right.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest @AffiSupaStar Step 3 is important. You have to know what you're up against. These are the categories of risk that I think about, but for the opportunity that you want to consider, there may be other more pertinent risks. But you need to understand them.
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest @AffiSupaStar I'm even going to share the risks that I identified for TJ back in 2014, so you can see a little more what I'm talking about. You're welcome... (BTW if anyone comes back to me trying to offer me consulting services by showing me my own slide, I will be really annoyed.)
@Nairametrics @TeamTomatoJos @Afrinvest @AffiSupaStar And finally, design (& execute) your MVP. Get money from people who love you & know you if you can. Strangers will very rarely (hardly ever, maybe never) invest in a product that is unproven, but you absolutely need to prove your model to yourself before you attempt to scale. /
