Rotimi Williams is a 36-year-old Nigerian entrepreneur and rice farmer. The former journalist and banker is the owner of the 45,000 hectares Kereksuk Rice Farm, the 2nd largest commercial rice farm in Nigeria.

Research states that Nigerians consume more than 5 million metric tonnes of rice every year, with a significant portion of its consumption needing to be sourced from imports. His farm, which is situated in Nasarawa state in northern Nigeria, employs more than 600 natives of Nasarawa.

The well-educated entrepreneur was interviewed recently on "Aim Higher Africa Ignite Series" and he was very candid about his light bulb moment, his mistakes, lessons learned and advice for aspiring farmers.

When asked why he decided to become an entrepreneur, he had this to say

"For me, the first thing you have to decide is are you an entrepreneur or a 9-5 person?
I realised that I wasn't comfortable doing the 9-5 job. I always wanted to think outside the box.
If you give me an assignment to do if you tell me to do A and I realise that B is the right way to go, I will do B.
I got in trouble every time for doing that, so I decided to go out and do my own thing. I needed that freedom.
I needed to express myself in doing things I felt was right and that's how I narrowed it down to agriculture and to rice.
You don't need any special skills, what you need is passion. Because when you get into agriculture,
you will face some disappointments but it's the passion that actually keeps you going.
So if you want to go into farming, the passion has to be there before you come up with everything else. The passion is key."

Want to know more about the lessons he has learned and his advice for aspiring farmers? Watch the video below!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBFaNmmxVSk