Riding on the LSETF Platform to pay it forward.

When I started www.easyshopeasycook.com 12 years ago, Otto and Oyingbo Markets were the two main markets I frequented for fresh fruits, vegetables and other staples. The women and men in these markets taught me so much about buying and selling fresh produce. They gave me credit for as long as they could accommodate and generally guided me when I needed them. A number of them have been in business for over 25 years.

The bulk of my suppliers now come from the farms and Mile 12 market but almost daily there is something to buy in either of these markets as they have some specialized items unique to them.

I have been looking for a way to give back to them for all they have done and continue to do for my business. I had planned food safety, hygiene and basic business training for them but I was advised that if access to finance is not included in the training the traders will not take me seriously so this program was stalled as I did not have money to give them.

Then Lagos state started the Micro Enterprise loan scheme of between N50,000 to N500,000.00 which did not need collateral. I met with the various leaders of the market associations to discuss it with them and find out their interest. We invited the LSETF (Lagos State Employment Trust Fund) and LIRS (Lagos Internal Revenue Service) representatives to sensitize the associations last week on all that is required to qualify and access the loan. It was a successful meeting. 50 forms were given to the traders; 20 for women and 30 for the men.

Today, I went back to help the women fill their forms and found out about 70 traders (male & female) are interested in the loan so we had to make extra copies of the original form. Each of them want an average of N200,000.00 as working capital and the interest rate is 5% per annum. All those we are starting with are only credible long term members of the associations. I went through their sales book and the average turnover for each of them is about N1.5m employing about 3 people each. Over half of them do not have bank accounts, they save their money with cooperatives/associations, ranging from N2000 - N7000 daily.

I went with 2 of my staff to help the women fill their forms today and I was able to convince them of the business training program. Since I came with money first, they all were excited about a business training program to help them better organize their business. As they are of various tribes, I have to get trainers that will be able to communicate in about 3 Nigerian languages for it to be effective. They have all done so well for themselves but can do with better tools and guidance.

Nigeria has the largest group of female entrepreneurs in the world but most of our women are small/micro business owners, we need to give them the right business training and access to finance to help them grow to medium and large scale.  When I talked to some of these women I learnt so much about their businesses and responsibilities and I can only imagine what more they can do for themselves, family and society if only they had more help tailored to their needs.

I am so happy to have finally found a way to give back to these women and men. So much can be done on this platform. People won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Once we are able to help them get these loans for their businesses, they will listen to us when we talk about implementing food safety standards, hygiene and basic business training. Then we see where else this takes us.

THE FIRST NIGERIA FOOD SAFETY & INVESTMENT FORUM

Finally we are making progress.

Forgive me for staying away for so long, a lot was happening behind the scenes but now i'm back fully to keep you updated on the food safety and food security activities of my darling Nigeria.

The first Nigeria Food Safety and Investment forum took place on the 7th and 8th of February, 2017 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. The forum was designed to enhance food safety and foster international business cooperation and partnerships.

Yours truly could not make the event as I was at a convention out of state but I got the communique so I'll share the objectives, outcomes and recommendations with you here. What I'll also be doing is following up on these recommendations and how they are eventually implemented.

I was hoping for wider recommendations that cuts across the Agricultural value chain but this is a start; I particularly like the recommendations of communicating technical useful data from their activities to the larger audience through innovative and effective media including traditional town criers, TV drama episodes and not limited to internet medium. This is huge for me as it has been very difficult for me getting data specifically on Nigeria relating to food safety, food loss/waste etc. Let's see how far we get with this.

The Nigerian government also set up food task force to help proffer solutions to the ever increasing food prices, I will share my views on this in my next post.

Go through the information below and let me know what you think about it.
Cheers.


Objectives: The objectives of the Nigeria Food Safety & Investment Forum were:

1. To focus on the promotion of inclusive and sustainable industrialisation by identifying, attracting and mobilising investments and appropriate technologies especially for small and medium size enterprises in Nigeria.
2. To address the global governance of food safety in regulatory systems and showcase models and best practices from all over the world.
3. To link the lessons learnt from extant national assessments with international best practices in the selected value chains.
4. To enlighten the operators in the food sector on the implementation of the normative references to achieve recognition for quality management systems and assessment of competence.

OUTCOMES &RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The forum was briefed by Honourable Minister for Agriculture on the status of food production in Nigeria and also on the renewed focus of the Ministry in terms of capacity building for safe food production. This has led to successful reassignments of the supervision of the three Federal Universities of Agriculture in Nigeria to the FMARD to drive the training process of personnel for safe food production. He also informed on the proposed setting up of Colleges of Food Health and Nutrition Sciences in these Universities.
2. The forum was concerned about reported cases of increase in non-communicable diseases in Nigeria arising from contaminants. It therefore, advised on the usage of food grade stainless steel materials in the fabrication of daily used food processing equipment such as grinding machines.
3. The efforts of the Federal Ministry of Health towards improving the National Food Safety Management system was commended especially the ongoing implementation of the National Policy on Food Safety and its Implementation Strategy; the forum recommended adequate funding, involvement and participation of private sector and NGOs in this regards.
4. There must be an efficient and effective system of information transfer between public and private sectors. Collaboration, cooperation and communication between Government Ministries, Regulatory Agencies, Support Net, Industry, Consumers, Producers, and Research Institutes need not be over-emphasised.
5. Borrowing from Brazilian experience: a. Consumers must be empowered by appropriate legislation such that burden of proof could be placed on the company rather than the consumers. b. Periodic surveillance of levels of contamination and incidences of food borne diseases is strategic to management of public health and should be legislated at all tiers of government. c. Operators in the food industry should begin to look less towards banking industry for funding as there are other means of intelligent funding such as crowd funding, venture capitalists, etc.
6. The Forum noted the creation of Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Directorate in NAFDAC, which is dedicated towards ensuring safe foods along food value chain. Accreditation of NAFDAC and SON Food Laboratories was commended and the need for more laboratories within the value chain should be looked into.
7. Since Government MDAs generate a lot of technical useful data from their activities, the forum advised that this information should be communicated to the larger audience through innovative and effective media including traditional town criers, TV drama episodes and not limited to internet medium.
8. Borrowing from European Union (EU) experience: a. There should be National Reference Laboratories located in areas of major production, for analytes and contaminants in food and agricultural products. b. The implementation of SPS legislation must be harmonised amongst the regulatory bodies. c. Competent Authorities in Nigeria must be effective and their reports reliable through documented official control system and programmes.
9. In view of economic losses resulting from non-compliance to existing food control systems by exporters, the forum recommended better collaboration between public and private sectors; and increased self regulation through trade/umbrella association
10. Taking into consideration complexities involved in food processing, the forum strongly advised regulatory policy of having accredited food scientists in every food processing company especially high risk food.
11. In view of incessant reportage implicating pesticides, the forum encouraged promotion of integrated pest management application in pest control.
12. The Forum advocated formation of individuals, micro, small and medium food enterprises into a cluster of 100-150 groups to work together in order to reduce cost of establishment, to attract attention and supports from government, development agencies.
13. In order to promote and encourage safe and quality products, reward systems in form of Food Awards should be instituted for honouring companies that have done well yearly.
14. The forum strongly advocates for provision of funds and infrastructure for surveillance, enforcement and laboratory investigation since laboratory support is critical
15. The forum recommends the establishment of more accredited private laboratories across the country to complement the existing government laboratories.

The outcomes of this forum is recommended to NFSMC for consideration and implementation.