Experts in the agricultural sector have urged youths in the country to engage in agribusinesses to create employments and generate wealth while impacting the nation’s economic growth.
Umar Oba Adelodun, chief executive officer and co-founder, Heart and Capital Limited, advised on the official launch of its new agribusiness project called ‘Eterno’ which was held recently in Ilorin, Kwara State.
According to Adelodun, the innovative agricultural startup in cashew investment called Eterno Programme, allows individuals and corporate bodies to have direct access to returns from a cashew plantation investment for over 20 years.
He added that the Eterno programme is making this possible through the use of modern technology to build the bridge between the farm and the investors.
“I want to call on students, young school leavers, other Nigerian youths and big investors to take advantage of this Eterno investment opportunity to create wealth for themselves,” he said.
Eterno is planned to reduce unemployment, improve the economic life of people and promote afforestation through the planting of cashew and other cash crops, he said.
“As an investor, you are not only earning returns on your investment, you will also be contributing to something bigger by mitigating social and environmental factors affecting Nigeria and the world at large such as unemployment and climate change,” Adelodun added.
He explains that the company in partnership with some tertiary institutions on agribusiness initiative has led to the training of about 4,000 youths yearly as part of efforts to promote agriculture among youth in the state and the country at large.
In his submission, Abdulquawiy Olododo, president and co-founder of the organisation, says that Kwara State University is the first tertiary institution his organisation partnered with.
“We get to train about 4,000 youth, young farmers every year on opportunities in agribusiness. We are young and we can understand language comprehensible to young adults,” he said.
“Agriculture had gone beyond hoes and cutlasses, farming and waiting for harvest. A whole value chain exists from planting to processing, marketing, and others that our youth should be part of these processes,” he added.
Olododo said that individuals can invest in one unit of cashew tree for as low as N10, 000.
“One thing that sets Eterno apart is the robust return on a one-time investment that spans 20 years. Interestingly, investors will not only start earning returns in the first year, but they will also earn as high as 30 percent in the first three years,” he further said.
“On Eterno, investors’ capitals are guaranteed because there are fully insured. What we have done is to digitize the investment through our integrated investment platform, Assetmart, which allows investors to monitor and evaluate their investment at any given time”, he said.
