YALI Voices Podcast: Pokyes Richard Sati Rides the Potato Value Chain to Success
Farming is a business, and it is very, very attractive if you produce and process, because if you can be able to add value to what we produce locally and consume what we process, then definitely we are going to make more profits, and I would just say we’re going to live a better life.
Pokyes Richard Sati, 2018 Fellowship Alumnus, Nigeria
When Pokyes Richard Sati noticed that many of the potatoes in Nigeria’s Plateau State were going to waste, he seized an opportunity for innovation within the country’s agriculture sector. Using his technical and business background, he assembled a team to help him develop machinery that would add value to these potatoes and give farmers access to a new market. He had the idea to process the potatoes into potato chips, allowing farmers to profit from crops that would otherwise be unused.
Pokye’s idea eventually grew into FreeMINDS Bumper Harvest Limited, the Plateau State’s major producer of POCI (Potato Chip Initiative) potato chips, potato flour and frozen chips. In this YALI Voices podcast, Sati shares the story of his business and how he hopes to expand his company in the future, while also offering advice to other aspiring agripreneurs. Read a transcript of the podcast.