Entrepreneur turns Nigerian superfood into a global export business
Timi Oke
Interview with Timi Oke
CO-FOUNDER and CEO, AGROEKNOR
Lives in: Nigeria
Timi Oke is the co-founder and CEO of AgroEknor, a company exporting dried hibiscus flowers grown in Nigeria to global markets, including the US, Mexico, Latvia, Germany, and Belgium. He secured his first agricultural trading deal through LinkedIn while still working at a bank in the UK.
How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Oke about building the company and the opportunities within Nigeria’s agricultural industry.
Topics discussed during the interview include:
- How he landed his first commodities trading deal through LinkedIn
- The booming market for hibiscus flowers
- Key lessons from working with smallholder farmers to source hibiscus
- Breaking into the lucrative American market
- Other crops with business potential in Nigeria
- Why organic waste management and storage present major agribusiness opportunities
- Practical advice for aspiring agricultural commodity traders
- What he would do differently if he had the chance to start the company again
Watch the full interview below:
Interview summary
Nigerian-born Timi Oke has long been drawn to agriculture. While working at a bank in the UK, he actively used LinkedIn to explore opportunities in the industry. In 2012, his efforts led him to connect with an importer in Mexico interested in sourcing hibiscus from Nigeria.
Hibiscus, often touted as a superfood, is a flowering plant known for its vibrant, trumpet-shaped blooms. Its dried petals are used to make hibiscus tea, a ruby-red drink prized for its refreshing taste and potential health benefits, including its ability to lower blood pressure. Beyond beverages, hibiscus has applications as a natural food colouring and an ingredient in jams, syrups, and desserts. It is also valued in the pharmaceutical sector for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and in the personal care industry for products like facial scrubs, masks, and hair care treatments.
Nigeria plays an increasingly significant role in the global hibiscus supply chain due to a preference for the country’s healthier, non-GMO varieties.
As Oke was still employed at the bank, his brother – a co-founder of the business – travelled to Kano, northern Nigeria, to purchase the hibiscus from aggregators who sourced it from small-scale farmers in the region. A third partner, whom Oke knew from the UK and who is originally from northern Nigeria, also helped with introductions.
Once the first order was completed and payment was received, Oke left his banking job and moved back to Nigeria to focus on the business full-time. He returned to LinkedIn to find new clients and also began attending food industry conferences. The business expanded rapidly, with volumes growing from 60 tonnes in the first year to 120 tonnes in the second, and 540 tonnes in the third.
The company raised some early capital from Oke’s mother and his partner’s father. “We were lucky that they bet on three young boys in their middle twenties who wanted to build a business out of hibiscus,” he explains.
The funds were used to set up a warehouse and hire experienced supply chain staff. “We went and we hired about two people who were very experienced in the supply chain … It is one thing to be able to source the hibiscus. It’s a totally different ball game … to move it from the north to Lagos, where the ports are in Apapa, and then get it on a vessel and get all the right documentation that allows your client to clear the goods stress free.”
Building direct farmer relationships
When AgroEknor started trading, it sourced hibiscus through aggregators who gathered the crops from smallholder farmers. However, relying on aggregators left the company with little control over the prices it paid for the hibiscus.
Oke realised that AgroEknor needed to work directly with smallholder farmers to address this issue. Over time, the company experimented with different ways of collaborating with farmers. Today, AgroEknor works with over 7,000 smallholders. The company has set up collection centres near the farmers and supports them in various ways to help improve their yields.
AgroEknor has also invested in its processing capacity, including the addition of a fumigation chamber.
AgroEknor employees processing hibiscus flowers.
Entering the lucrative US market
Oke advises commodity traders to begin by targeting markets with less stringent import regulations to gain experience and learn the trade. While newcomers often aim for the EU or US, he warns that issues like errors in shipment documentation or fumigation can result in the destruction of an entire cargo at certain ports, particularly in the US – losses a startup cannot afford.
AgroEknor eventually entered the US, which Oke describes as particularly lucrative, with revenues often double those in other countries. The company focuses on retail-packaged hibiscus flowers and cordials for the American market, with Texas a key region for sales.
Exploring opportunities beyond hibiscus
While hibiscus remains AgroEknor’s main focus, Oke also sees opportunities in other crops grown in Nigeria and across the continent. “We tend to look at commodities where there is no major player already … So our priority is niche markets where the market leadership is for the taking.”
One crop Oke is enthusiastic about is fonio, a drought-resistant, gluten-free grain with numerous nutritional benefits. Cultivated in West Africa for thousands of years, fonio remains under-commercialised.
The company became interested in fonio after considering other crops that hibiscus farmers could grow. “You don’t need fertilisers for fonio, you can literally just throw the seeds of fonio on the ground and it will grow … It can grow on any type of soil.”
Oke mentions a recent article by Bill Gates highlighting fonio’s benefits and notes that brewer Carlsberg has launched a beer made solely from fonio grains, without barley or bittering hops. He also points growing demand for fonio in certain European countries.
However, AgroEknor is primarily looking at fonio for the Nigerian market. “We are more interested in using fonio as a substitute for rice domestically because Nigeria imports rice and it’s just not practical.” Yet, Oke acknowledges one of the key challenges with fonio: its processing. The grain requires dehusking, which is a labour-intensive process.
He also sees potential in the sisal plant, a cactus-like species whose fibres are used in products such as rope, string, yarn, and bags. Sisal is increasingly found in composite materials for cars, furniture, and construction, as well as in plastics and paper products. AgroEknor has made small investments in sisal-related R&D activities. However, the company found that achieving profitable margins through value addition in sisal would require venturing into industrial manufacturing. As a result, AgroEknor has set the idea aside to focus on other opportunities.
The company has also been involved in ginger trading in the past. “We had a lot of clients in the global markets who wanted us to help supply ginger. And we looked at that value chain, but in all honesty, it was a value chain that already had very dominant players … And yes, opportunistically we would trade in it. But in the medium term, we’re not looking to build out a future value chain out of ginger because there are already big players who already control 80% of the market.”
AgroEknor is also exploring opportunities for crops beyond Nigeria. One of these is cloves, a high-value spice. “It’s not grown in Nigeria but it is grown in other African countries,” Oke notes.
AgroEknor CEO Timi Oke’s contact information:
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