America.gov asked finalists from among the more than 700 African immigrants who submitted business plans to the “African Diaspora Marketplace” to blog about their ideas. Sponsored by USAID and Western Union Company, the African Diaspora Marketplace is a contest that will award seed money to approximately 15 winners to help them bring their ideas to life in their home countries.

BASIRAT SHONEKAN-UMARU, entrepreneur:

Salmon fishery in the United States.

UBS FARMS was created in response to the long-term objectives of the Nigerian Public Service Commission to expand fish farming as a means to increase protein in the diets of the poor. Since inception, UBS FARMS has been playing a key role in the agricultural sectors in Nigeria’s Ogun state by providing training to local women and advising other fish farmers on technologies. We have employed 10 local experts in fish farming and are looking for experts from abroad to increase our knowledge.

The Nigerian population is growing, so demand for fish is increasing. In order to expand production, we need help to get feeding machines, flood prevention systems and water recirculation equipment.

Last year, we lost most of our production due to flooding. Now, we are using only four of 20 ponds because of the danger of flooding. In order for UBS FARMS to function at full capacity during the rainy season, we need to have a gutter system. Otherwise, we are forced to avoid stocking many ponds during the rainy season. Currently, we are producing 400,000 fingerlings and 32,000 table size fish a year. We see the potential to produce 1,920,000 fingerlings and 160,000 table size fish a year, provided we can get the needed technology.

In this industry, technologies and ideas are constantly changing; we need to be current because it can make a difference in our production. We would welcome an expert to evaluate our operation and suggest ways to improve it.

OKEZIE OFOEGBU, business expert:

Hi, I saw your proposal to expand a fish farm in Nigeria. It’s a great idea because the market for your products is almost guaranteed since food security is a concern to everyone. Also, the ability to achieve greater scale in production would help reduce costs, thus making the product more available to low-income earners.

Here are a couple of suggestions that you might find useful. First, you may want to seek to establish “off take” relationships with potential buyers. By that I mean agreements to sell fixed amounts of product to particular buyers annually.

To convince investors to invest capital to expand your existing output, it is important to show that there an identifiable market for the additional output.

Secondly, it would be interesting looking at what would be needed to add some level of intermediate processing to your production in order to give longer shelf life to your output. That would further increase confidence in the viability of the business plan. Hope you find these ideas useful.