Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed Falalu is unmistakably exceptional. He’s a perfect combination of brain and brawn. In spite of his relatively young age, he has made his mark as a successful entrepreneur and role model to Nigerian youths.
The 29-year old is the founder of FalGates, an agro-business entity with specialty in rice production and milling. He owns the popular Falrice brand.
Falalu’s journey to becoming a notable farmer started way back in the college. He has always had passion for agriculture and no wonder while other students filled their year book with ambitions to study Law and Engineering, he simply put down his passion of becoming a farmer. And he never looked back, but worked assiduously towards achieving his goal.
Of course, he realised the importance of education and why he studied hard, bagging a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s in Management, both from Swinbume University of Technology, Australia. He later added a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management with Distinction from Nottingham University Business School, China (NUBS China) in 2014.
After his education abroad, he returned to Nigeria to actualise his vision by energising FalGates, which he formed in 2012 and would later blossom to having a milling capacity of 15 tons per day and a total of 5,000 metric tons.
It is noteworthy that Falalu’s decision to go into rice farming, among other agricultural alternatives, was informed by his strategic thinking on what should constitute his line of business in his chosen field of farming.
Abubakar Falalu had recognised that Nigeria was consuming about seven million metric tonnes of rice and could only produce 2.7 million metric tonnes, a situation which necessitated the country spending more than $2 billion on imports.
Hence, his foray into rice farming as a lucrative enterprise, a business which has earned him fortune and fame as a trailblazer.
His company’s combined capacity in Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi states with a workforce of over 200 employees, garnered a turnover of about $ 450,000 as at 2017. The figure has since been on the upward swing, especially with the emphasis on local rice consumption in the country.
Abubakar Falalu’s ingenious approach to business, leadership as well as his exemplary character were noticed, and in 2018, Forbes recognised him as one of the promising youths in Africa under the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 category.
Abubakar Falalu represents a luminous pathway to Nigerian youths, and is clearly a role model.