There is a saying that “if the going gets tough, only the tough gets going” That aptly applies to the present economic situation in Nigeria where former breadwinners have suddenly turned jobseekers. Mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion etc.
The main problem is that our people are not being trained on enterprise development skills unlike what happens in the United States and some other developed economies. Overseas, college students begin to get this kind of training at high school level, even before they get into college. We need to establish a structure to teach our graduates enterprise development skills. I think one of our major challenges is the right education. We are not teaching our youths how to create jobs. Our system teaches them how to be a good employee but does not teach them how to create employment opportunities for themselves and others. I have nothing against education, but at times it gives people false confidence. It makes them trust in certificates instead of working hard.
I would really prescribe a sandwich course that can be infused into the existing curriculum, something like the current General Studies course, which all students will take on basic enterprise development skills and effective communication skills, to be taken at the beginning of their studies in the first year and then in the final year. It should be a one-semester course to orientate students to the fact that they don’t have to wait till they graduate before they start earning income. They can actually earn income from running a little enterprise as long as it won’t affect their studies. Let us educate the mind and hand by investing in agriculture.
I started grasscutter farming many years ago with two wooden cages in my kitchen and today I’m making progress, I noticed that the demand for grasscutter meat is very high and not being met. I studied the grasscutter business in Nigeria; it was amazing to discover that four out of every five Nigerians have eaten and preferred the meat, this shows that the acceptability is there and disposing them won’t be a problem. I decided to sell grasscutter to beer palours, eateries, top class hotels and farmers. I found out that a lot of the hotels loved the fact that the grasscutter meat is an organic and healthy white-meat.
In addition to these facts, grasscutter is free from cultural and religious taboos. This makes it to be a universal favourite, breaking all barriers, ethnicity, age grouping, etc. The food and Agricultural Organisation in a recent study observed that over 950 million people are starving everyday and this situation affords the investor the opportunity of raising grasscutter for export.
Therefore, in any environment and situation we found ourselves; we should begin to look out for opportunities to meet basic needs that almost everybody might have. These should not be high and lofty things.

Today, we have developed a delivery system that brought the grasscutter to the doorstep of our clients. Rather than the customers coming to the farm to buy, we would deliver it direct to their kitchen or farms. If you solve a problem, people will pay you for it. This valued-added service sky-rocketed the reputation of JOVANA FARMS as the grasscutter company of choice in Nigeria.
Again we realized that many people are not enterprising and this created opportunity for us to organize nationwide seminars to get more Nigerians involved in the business. So in any place you find yourself begin to look out for opportunities to meet needs for a fee. Unemployed graduates should begin to think solutions. Only uncreative people remain unemployed.
It’s unfortunate that many of our graduates think that employment creation should be left alone for the government to handle. We should let our youths understand that no government can create enough jobs for its citizen, government creates enabling environment while the people create jobs themselves. Our people should be taught how to be part of the solution and not job seekers.
At Jovana Farms, we are looking inwards and focusing on the neglected, but vital sources of animal protein for household diets and employment generation. Therefore our nationwide agro-seminar is intended to provide useful information on the various aspects of animal production, create awareness and thus motivate Nigerians to get involved in agriculture. Attend our nationwide seminars nearest to you and learn how to generate income from your backyard. Visit us at www.jovanafarms.com, TEL: 08033262808, E-mail: jovanafarms@gmail.com for more details