Chief Felix had arrived before the visitors came. I, seated among my colleagues, watched how Mr. Felix, with a lot of pride and a sense of accomplishment, gave a speech on how he created not just an empire but a whole system where fishes are reared and sold at exorbitant prices.
He said, “I remember those days when I was striving to be great. I would run as if I were in a marathon race just to sell plantain chips at any visible traffic congestion, which we normally call ‘hold up!’”
After that, he smiled and glanced at our faces as if wanting something. Immediately, he added, “But today…”
No sooner had he uttered such words than cheers and laughter could be heard from among the seated individuals.
He then smiled while his hands were raised. “It is such a pity that my mum, whom I made a promise to buy a car and a house for, did not taste from the wealth that I have today.” He paused and altered these words in a Yoruba version: “Iya re re sun re,” which means “Good mother, sleep well.”
Those words of his immediately struck a part of me, and I said to myself, “Not all promises made during hardship will be fulfilled, as time and all other determinants decide which promises get fulfilled.”
Immediately, I stood up to see Chief Felix, also known as the Ghanaian Man because his dad was from Ghana and his mum was from Lagos.
“Sir, I want to start a fish farming business near my house. Please, how do I begin? Please!”
He smiled and said, “Yes! Like I have said, you do not need a 5-acre land to start. You can get some fingerlings at 50 naira from my company. What you really need is to have a goal. Make sure you set it and remove the obstacles. The goals could be yearly or monthly. Make sure the goal is about expanding the farming business.”
I smiled. He promised to discount me 10 naira per fingerling. I was over the moon when he said that. Nothing pays really well than getting discounts for items purchased.
The next morning, which was a Saturday, I zoomed off to his abode just to inquire about his office from his gate man. It had skipped my mind, as I failed to register the exact location of the farm. However, from the description he made—where he said that he bought a 5-acre land near his house—it told a lot. “Good morning, Mr. Suraju, I am an attendee of the Build Yourself Entrepreneurship class, and I need direction to Chief Felix’s farm.” Suraju said, “sir, mi o gbo yin ooo.” I immediately translated it to Yoruba just to pass the message across.
After a long description, which I followed, I finally got to the Ghanaian Man’s farm. Thank God it was at a trekable distance.
Mr Badmus came to welcome me. He said, “mister, what do you want to buy?” Immediately, I said, “Fingerlings for catfish.” He said, “Oh, you want to begin a farm?” I said yes. He said to me, “Would you need a technician or our service for a startup?” I also said yes, as I definitely knew that I couldn’t do all those installations alone.
He began by telling me that I needed to make construction for a tank, and there should be availability of water. I said to him, “I have dug a borehole for tap water, but I can only afford a white tank of 1000 liters capacity.”
“Well, that won’t float a standard pond, but it would do. You will need an additional one to separate the fishes, especially when they are of varying sizes, to prevent cannibalism. You would also need a pH meter, nylon, 5 rolls, feed in pellet form, and many more.”
The list of what I saw almost sent me down the drain. It was as if the motivational speech of Mr. Felix was like a sugar-coated medicine.
Mr. Badmus advised me to start buying the materials little by little, as they are the basic materials to start a small pond.
Deep in thought, I closed my eyes and opened them. I saw a figure. It was Mr. Felix. “Mr. Felix!” I screamed. “Good morning, sir, I have been to your humble abode this morning to seek direction to your farm.”
“Oh! That is good. Has Badmus attended to you?”
“Em, em, yes he has, but…”
I stopped, trying not to proceed, but a thought—should I pour out my challenges?—paved its way in. I didn’t know when I spilled the bucket by explaining all of my challenges in a murmuring fashion.
Mr. Felix laughed when I told him that he had motivated me to start the process but did not tell me that the requirements were so many. He smiled as he told Badmus to send two tanks with fingerlings to me. He said that I could choose to return the tanks any time I am done with them, but it should not exceed a year.
I was over the moon as I said, “Yes, sir.”
Mr. Felix is a kind person, and in fact, he actually discounted the fingerlings that I bought.
I was extremely joyful, and that was how I started my micro fish-rearing farm.
All images were gennerated using ecency mobile app.
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