By Grace Ademulegun
The CEO and co-founder of Ope Farms, Olusola Sowemimo, is a qualified attorney who has worked in human resources for Nigeria LNG Limited for the past ten years. additionally qualified by the esteemed Minding Manners International Etiquette and Protocol Academy of London as an Etiquette Practitioner.
She is a member of the School of Eloquence’s faculty.
She is a business development specialist and consultant with 26 years of diverse experience in the legal, oil and gas (Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited (NLNG)), human resources, and agro-food sectors. She is also a partner with Seyi Sowemimo & Co.
In 2021, Olusola spoke at the World Organic Conference, the African Organic Conference, and the West African Organic Conference. Additionally, she received the EOA’s (Ecological Organic Agriculture) 2019 Organic Farmer & Processor award.
Olusola is an Academy of Women Entrepreneurs alumnus. She is well-known and has won numerous accolades for her support of and contributions to the development of organic farming in Nigeria. She was recently included in Lagos State’s EKO 100 WOMEN list, which honours 100 female entrepreneurs.
In addition to attending countless conferences, events, workshops, and training, she has instructed hundreds of individuals in organic farming and served as a panellist at various agriculture and farming programs. She frequently gives keynote addresses at leadership and agribusiness events and is in high demand.
Her intense desire to lead a healthy lifestyle has led her to pursue another business endeavour: becoming an organic farmer.
She established Ope Farms, a certified organic farm in Nigeria. The farm is headquartered in Ikeja, Lagos and has 11–50 employees, rapidly establishing a solid reputation.
Ope Farms raises livestock and grows vegetables without the use of antibiotics or other synthetic chemicals. For discriminating consumers who favour produce free of chemical residues, they engage in contract farming.
Olusola Sowemimo founded Ope Farms in 2014 with the goal of using Nigeria’s nutrient-rich soil to produce food that would nourish people. The farm, which is certified organic, began producing food in earnest in 2015 with the goal of producing safe and healthful farm products.
The turmeric they grew in 2019 met five international requirements. Additionally, France 24 and BBC Inside Africa have highlighted the farm.
In addition to producing a variety of food and root crops, they also possess an apiary and a snail farm, as well as native and “exotic” fruits, vegetables, and chickens. Weekly harvests from the farm are delivered to households, supermarkets, restaurants, juice and smoothie bars, and sandwich shops with a clientele of more than 300.
The farms also produce teas, spices, and dried vegetables under contract for businesses and under their own brand. They have a website where these products are made available for both local and international clients.
They have trained more than 2000 beneficiaries in organic farming and served as Master Trainers at the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture for West Africa, which was organised by the Association of Organic Practitioners of Nigeria (NOAN) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM).
In Nigeria, Olusola Sowemimo is a prominent supporter of organic and sustainable farming. She has shown by her work that she is deeply committed to advancing ecologically friendly farming methods that put the wellbeing of the world and its inhabitants first.
She emphasises organic agricultural practices at Ope Farms, staying away from artificial fertilisers and pesticides to preserve soil health and lessen environmental deterioration.
Sowemimo ensures that the soil on her farm is nourished and repaired by implementing regenerative agricultural practices, creating a system that promotes sustainability over the long run. By storing carbon in the soil, practices like crop rotation, composting, and the use of natural fertilisers not only improve soil fertility but also help lower carbon emissions.
Her initiatives to raise awareness of the significance of lowering the carbon footprint connected to food production extend beyond farming.
Ope Farms encourages sustainable consumption and lowers transportation-related environmental costs by promoting the use of organic produce that is produced locally.
Sowemimo’s support of sustainable living is a major factor in her influence. She aggressively spreads awareness of the value of environmentally friendly methods among people and communities, frequently encouraging others to cultivate their own food or purchase their goods from sustainable farms.
Another essential component of her business is waste management; by converting organic waste into compost, she successfully lowers landfill contributions and the emission of dangerous methane emissions.
The farming methods used by Sowemimo also promote biodiversity. Ope Farms ensures a healthy and balanced ecology by creating a chemical-free environment that offers a safe haven for beneficial insects, birds, and other organisms.
Her work is a comprehensive movement towards climate change, environmental sustainability, and healthy living that goes beyond farming. She continues to encourage many people to adopt eco-friendly behaviours and strengthen their resistance to climate change through community involvement and awareness-raising initiatives.
In every way, Olusola Sowemimo’s work with Ope Farms serves as an example of how agriculture and the natural world can coexist, preserving the environment while providing for human needs in a sustainable manner.
Olusola provided further details about her future goals for Ope Farms, saying: “We want to get international certification so that we may sell part of our produce overseas. Twice, our turmeric and ginger have each passed five and seven international criteria.
“Building and running a processing hub for us and others is another goal. Fortunately, we have land in Abeokuta, but the expense of constructing and furnishing the space is high. The company’s processing division is progressively expanding, and we hope to register our goods.”
The Nation newspaper, in one of its 2023 editions, reported Olusola Sowemimo saying, “We would love to build an organic agriculture institute which would house the interns and trainees who are interested in learning and practicing organic agriculture on our farm.”
She pointed out that Nigeria does not have an organic agriculture policy, which she believes hurts the nation’s reputation and focus.
“It simply indicates that we are not doing enough when our products fail to meet the acceptable threshold of chemical residue,” she said, adding, “we ought to be concerned about whether others are doing enough.”
Sowemimo, who supports organic farming and serves as a mentor to aspiring farmers, inspires more people to seek sustainable agriculture as a way to improve public health and advance Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Her efforts show the connection between environmentally sustainable practices, community well-being, and sustainable farming practices.