Food is an abundant natural resource from God to Nigeria. Nigeria is blessed with so much food for every season and even during inclement weather. With this thought, I decided to set up a business during my undergraduate years, which was from 2012 – 2016, on food production. Some of my friends and I carried out a market survey and the analysis of the survey showed that there were a lot of locally produced food crops that people did not know. Ironically, even with the plethora of food, it is still one of our major challenges as Nigerians. We also noticed that it was not an easy task to join the already existing market dominated by mostly food processing companies in Nigeria, so we decided try another route to food production. This inevitably led to the setting up of my Company “Mills and Grade” in 2015 when I was 23 Years Old.

At Mills and Grade we looked into the production and processing of plant and animal products to meet daily nutritional requirements needed by people. However, knowing that we have a big vision with our company being at its infancy, we were compelled to start with processing of local seeds and grains. Some of our products are, Turn Brown and Tamba, which are cereal meals made from grains and seeds with good nutritional value. Turn Brown is a mixture of soya beans, groundnuts, Guinea corn, wheat and crayfish, it enriches as a balance diet with adequate protein requirement. Tamba on the other hand is a whole grain meal with high fiber content and lower glycemic index. It is a good carbohydrate meal for diabetics and helps with weight loss. Patronage of our products is high and we are still able to maintain our customer base with increasing numbers despite all the economic challenge. We are currently finding ways to improve our products. Presently, we have been trying to make more enquiries on more locally processed foods available in the country while making them available to the public.

During this nascent infancy of Mills and Grades we have been able to make a remarkable leap in the past one year. By this I mean that our increase in customer base increased our profits and is giving us an added advantage to prepare for our ongoing farm project. Some of our customers include the American Football team in Zaria, Kaduna State, athletes, Youth Corps members, and also families and individuals, in different parts of the country. We have so far been able to grow and sustain our customer base.

Our team size for now is limited to four and we will all graduate from the University this year. We have decided to take Mills and Grade as full time job upon graduation since it is a registered company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Nigeria. We have also been able to employ the services of 10 additional Staff and also the interests of some individuals who are willing to partner and invest in our Company. We derive joy in knowing anyone anywhere that can afford our products and as we try to meet our daily demands. We are also looking forward to expanding our food products to your door steps and shelves of supermarkets.

Source: http://www.thepositivestory.info/2016/10/on-path-to-greatness-transformational.html