Business Leader of the Week: Business Tips from Anthony Owei

By Chimfoun Dials

Our Business Leader for the week is the multiple award-winning and seasoned entrepreneur, Anthony Ebitimi Owei. 

He is the founder of Tonyve Farms, an agricultural company inspired by the severe 2011/2012 East African drought. He is also the founder and CEO of ePoultry.ng, Africa’s first digital poultry investment platform; Chicken Palace, a chain of poultry retail outlets that promotes market access for smallholder farmers; and Tonyve Advisory, an SME consulting outfit helping SMEs succeed.

Tonyve Farms is currently focusing on the poultry value chain with a vision of a food-secure Africa where it plays a significant role as the largest and most diversified agricultural company. The company was rated one of the top 30 SMEs in Africa in 2018 by the African Entrepreneurship Awards, Morocco.

In a talk show with Stephanie Ronald, Anthony shared his journey so far in Poultry Farming. He also gave valuable business tips for intending entrepreneurs. Here are some of them:

• Once you have a change of perspective, you will begin to see business opportunities in the most overlooked things (for him, it was the visit to Kenya that did this).

• Before you start a business, gain knowledge. It is what you know and apply that will bring the results you seek.

• Capital is the least of the problems when starting a business. Before you start a business, have the right mindset. You must first understand the business, the market you are going to serve, and how you will sell to them.

• The only thing that makes a business survive is the sustainability of income. The most sustainable way is for customers to give you their money. 

• There are two ways to succeed. It’s either you are a leader and carry the load by yourself, or you look for a leader you believe can carry the load and follow. When you are following, you are growing.

• As a leader in your business (or anywhere), when things are wrong, even when you are not directly responsible for it, you have to take the blame and fix it.

• As a business person, you must know when to leave operations and step into making strategic moves by coming with ideas on how to grow your business.

• The business of what you do is more important than what you do. Build a business because you want to do business, solve problems and make money.

To watch Anthony’s full chat with Stephanie, click here.