Any job related to agriculture or farming is often underlooked by people, some think it is not a good job that can generate an income, or a ladylike job when girls are doing it. Rahma Agasaro, 24, is an entrepreneur whose niche is in agribusiness.
Agasaro’s love for growing crops and the need to change the bias and stereotypes around agribusiness and girls in that specific area is what made her join the field.
"As a young and growing female entrepreneur, I wanted to fill the gap of a very small number of girls in agriculture. Also agriculture is the cornerstone of human existence regardless of making profits, it is the biggest industry in business that makes the economy of the whole world, and contributes to the GDP of the country, so I really wanted to break the bias and the stereotypes that people give agribusiness especially young women or girls,” she explains.
Despite her dreams of becoming a businesswoman selling cars while growing up, she developed a strong love for growing crops and venturing into agribusiness.
"I was lucky enough to proceed with my university studies in Nairobi, Kenya. I studied commerce and my major was in marketing, so I started from there while I was still at campus, I was into the supply of fruits and vegetables back then, and when I came back to my home country that is when I had to oversee it and now grow them myself and supply what I have grown,” she shares.
After experimenting with growing fruits and vegetables, Agasaro decided to start her own delivery business of the crops that she was growing herself, she delivered them to hotels, restaurants, and individually for people who wanted them at home, and she still does so.
She rented out an orchard in February 2021, to cultivate her vegetables and fruits.
The journey of majoring in agribusiness as a career was not smooth as she thought, and in a country where the mindset around agribusiness is still low and biased, Agasaro had to find the courage to fight the negative comments and discouragements she received and to never give up on her passion.
"At the start, a very big number of people didn’t understand my path, because of the bias around farming, especially for kids that were raised in the big city and the gender part. It was really had to believe in me especially because they knew agriculture was a job for rural people also people couldn’t believe that I could grow crops in Kigali, but I persisted and was determined to prove people wrong, that a girl can work in agribusiness, and that agribusiness is like any career that can bring you success,” she recalls.
Support was not as big as Agasaro anticipated, but she still had support to keep on going with her passion and determination to create a job in agribusiness.
"My family was around to support and friends from Kenya, but mainly the biggest support came from the salaries from my previous jobs,” she adds.
One of the biggest challenges Agasaro met through her journey was the fear to start and not having enough capital as a starter.
"After starting out I also faced the problem of adjusting to the change in seasons as a farmer, there are seasons where crops can’t grow or yield less, which can be very discouraging. Also, after growing my crops and having the idea to sell them, it wasn’t that easy to penetrate the market especially the supply chain after farming and sometimes personal branding can be tricky,” says Agasaro.
As a young woman in agribusiness Agasaro would like to encourage other young girls to join the agriculture sector and overcome the fear they have, especially what other people would think of them, "agriculture has money, agriculture is the way to go”.