Interview with TMA FARMS – Powerful and Insightful!

Our interview today is with the founder CEO of TMA FARMS – bringing fresh and supple food from the farm directly to your table. Our interview with Mrs Oshinowo is one that speaks volumes about the power of determination and hardwork. With the support of her husband and her family, she was able to build this formidable business from the ground to where it is now. Let’s dive right in!

Tell us your name, qualifications, and about your business

My name is Taiwo Oshinowo, the founder and CEO of TMA FARMS. I have a BSc in Industrial Relations & Personnel Management from the University of Lagos. You’re surprised, right? An HR turned Farmer.

First of all, my grandparents were farmers, and my parents were too. At first, it wasn’t in my plan or my dream to become a farmer like my parents, but when saapa and unemployment set in, I had no choice other than to take up the profession.

One day in 2016, my husband-man came home with a link for a program called N-power. I had a long write-up after serious deliberation on the program. The course had four phases;
N-Agro, N-heath, N-Teach and N-Tax.

As an HR wey I be, I told hubby I will go for N-Teach, that I can still teach any course assigned to me with perfection. Hubby said, “No go for N-Agro”. To me, I wasn’t interested, why Agro? After my 4 years in school studying Industrial Relations & Personnel Management, plus one year of service. Is this how I will pay my poor mother back? How am I going to survive with it? Because to me almost all farmers I know are poor, only a few are rich.

Even the day I told my mum that I wanted to go into farming, her question was like, “Ewo Omo ti mo jise jiya le Lori” (i.e see the child that I suffered to raise to send to school with little farming am doing want to end up like me). I felt her reaction and then I was the first graduate in my family so you can imagine how my mum and my other siblings were seriously looking up to me and me coming back to inform them that I wanted to go into farming of which the money she spent sending me to school was from farming.

Omoh a lot of questions were raised. I sha tried to wave some off and be focused. My aim and my mother’s then was for me to work in one of the top industries and earn well so I could take her out of poverty. But for where? Unemployment didn’t want the vision to come to reality.

Las las, I obliged with hubby and I registered under N-Agro. I walked through the outskirts of town in Epe for my training. Some days I would leave my house by 5 AM and get back by 8-9 PM because of the horrible traffic in Lekki Ajah express way chai. Along the line, the interest started coming up all of a sudden.

During my training, I stumbled upon an abandoned piece of farmland (Family land in Ijebu Isiwo). Despite its neglected state, a spark of inspiration ignited within me. With little experience but a heart full of determination, I decided to turn this forgotten land into my lifeline of cassava farm. With this plan, I wasn’t satisfied. As you all know cassava will stay up to 9-12 months before maturity. A lot of thoughts set in. How do I survive with this? Would I wait for a whole year before eating? But my mentor’s words ran to my ear that food shouldn’t be seasonal because we eat every day so why should I focus on seasonal farming?

After having this thought I started planning on going into full-time farming by using irrigation, but how do I go about it?

I thought of how I would source funds and how to manage the farm and home together considering the distance, a lot of things needed to be studied. During this time, I hadn’t finished with my N-power training, but I kept my fate alive.

During the training, I and my colleagues brought ourselves together by making a 10,000 naira contribution (Ajo) every month from our stipend. I remember we were 5 in number and that was 50,000 naira. That was year 2017. When it was my turn to collect my Ajo, I did, and my husband added 70,000 naira. In total, I had 120,000 naira and that was it.
Guess the turnout of the 120k today?

After a while I had a mission to promote food security and reduce hunger and promote job employment for the youth in the country.

What products or services do you offer at TMA FARMS?

As a farmer, am into crop production of Sweetcorn plantation, Cassava, Ofada rice plantation, Cucumber, Spinach Tomatoes, Habanero peppers, Bell peppers, leafy vegetables and agricultural processed food like Garri Ijebu, Fufu Flour, Yam flour, Rice Poundo, Palm oil, Ofada Rice, Rice etc. I understand how difficult it can be to find the freshest and highest quality produce on same day, harvest, and deliver them to customers’ doorsteps.

This is why we pride ourselves in offering the best in crop production and agricultural processed food from farm to table. On the same day, we harvest and deliver to customers and this has been our unique selling point.

What problem do TMA FARMS’ products solve for customers?

My grandfather will say, if food is out of poverty then poverty is finished. This is why I focused on food crop so people can get access to healthy and organic food at very affordable price and also provide employment for people.

Who is your target audience?

My target audience are, food vendors, chef, hotels etc.

You can share a success story or case study of what your customers say about your services.

There are lots of good reviews from our customers how fresh and healthy our produce are, our produce can stay up to days without changing in taste or colour so also in our processed food.

Every first week of every new month we do have TMA FARMS MARKET WEEK where everyone shop everything related to food stuff at a 20% discount both online or walk in at our store.

How can readers find your business online?

Our physical store at 2, Araromi street, off Moloney, behind Access Bank, Obalende, Lagos Island. Online, you can find us on Instagram (@tmafarms_ng), Facebook (@Tmafarms.ng), Tiktok (@tmafarms_ng), and our Website (https://tmafarms.bumpa.shop).

If you want, you can offer an exclusive discount for your product/services to my readers

Yes, a 5% discount for anyone coming from the Discover Yoruba website.

Please share the special promotions or discounts currently running for your business here.

TMA FARMS Market Week coming up on the 1st – 5th Oct. 2024 where customers can shop produce as low as N500 and also a 10% discount on the available produce.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

They should put God first and remain focused. They should have it in the back of their minds that challenges will come and they will surely overcome them if they have God and determination.

Can you provide some tips for getting the most out of TMA FARMS’ products?

They should keep checking on our page on our harvest day so to get same day harvest from us and also every first week of a new month for our Market week day this is where they get fresh produce at a very discounted price.

What do you think about the Yoruba culture?

Very demure, when it comes to Yoruba dressing, it makes someone responsible and respectful.

That is it for our interview with Mrs Oshinowo, the CEO of TMA FARMS. What do you think about her story? Inspiring, isn’t it? Not only is Mrs Oshinowo inspiring she is also charismatic. On our YouTube channel, you can watch the podcast version of this interview and hear her words directly from the source.

Do you know we have merch? Don’t snooze!