The Director General of the Sierra Leone Local Content Agency (SLLCA), Fodeba Dabohon Monday January 31, 2022,made an inspection visit to the Octopus Group of Companies,an agro business situated at Makonkonday village at Newton. The investment occupies a 120-acre industrial farm space in the western Area Rural District.
The purpose of the visit was to assess the establishment of the modern livestock production and value addition systems implemented in Sierra Leone by the Octopus Group of Companies.
In his assessment, Daboh said, “I am impressed with this investment. This is exactly what we want to see from Sierra Leonean Entrepreneurs,and if we are to talk about the issue of owing the economy, it starts right from what we are seeing here.”
“An investment owned by a local Sierra Leonean. This is wonderful; at least the structures are there. This is definitely an exemplary situation.”
He emphasized, “I always say agrobusiness is a wealth creation sector. You see, the tour we make around speaks to everything. Investors are asking him to supply 5000 cows per month. This is huge. What this tells us is that there is the market. Entrepreneurship is about access to market. I feel delightedand this is an epitome of what Local Content is about.”
“I think we need to make Sierra Leoneans and especially young people know that there is an opportunity out there so that they can tap into it,” Dabohsaid. “This also speaks to the fact that we should put premium on skills development. I can see that this place will be a training center where university students will come for an internship to gain skills in livestock.”
He said that it is the position of government that people should not wait for an office job, but rather create jobs for themselves, noting that it is the work of government to support the investor so that the business will grow.
He said that Octopus Group of Companiesis one of the businesses they approved to attend The EXPO 2020 in Dubai, noting thatOctopus Groupnetworked with other investors. “I need to do more for Octopus Groupto do more market linkages for them at macro level, and link them with multinational businesses.”
Director General thanked European Union for supporting the Octopus Group.
The Managing Director of Octopus Group, RajieSaad said they can boost of eight bay garage space, administrative building and welcome center, cafeteria, three huge animal sheds, veterinary facility, meat processing facility, warehouse, silage areas, palm oil processing and packaging facility, feed making facilities, machinery and implements, staff quarters, executive quarters, amusement facility, hydra form block making machine and facility, pipe borne water and over 40 acres of fodder and forage farms etc.
He said that most of their challenges are access to finance. “We don’t oweanyone or institution, EU is partly funding the processing of this investment,” he said. He said that after the Expo, one investor has asked him to supply 5000 cows per month, but such quantity is not available at the moment.
He said that they are challenged with skills, noting that they are bringing their own experts to train their own people.
“As I speak to you now, we are speaking with EU for the certification for the livestock because we don’t want to wait until we start killing the cows before we can start looking for certification.”
an eye opening, adding that he made presentations to various investors. He thanked SLLCA for enabling him to participate in the Dubai 2020.
He said that in the next five years, he wants to be the biggest cattle producer and exporter in Sierra Leone.
By Stephen V. Lansana