Welcome to a great week!

RISE Youth of the Week is Affiong Williams from Nigeria.

Affiong Williams, 29, is a Nigerian entrepreneur and the CEO of ReelFruit, a thriving agribusiness company. Her entrepreneurial journey in the agricultural space started in 2012 when she spotted a niche in fruits sector.

Before founding ReelFruit, Affiong worked with Endeavor in South Africa where she rose to the position of Portfolio Manager and finally took a bow in 2012. Affiong returned to Nigeria to start ReelFruit, a fruit processing company which was founded in March, 2014.

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Affiong studied a general Bsc degree in Physiology and Psychology at the university, and followed up with a diploma in business management. However, she claimed that her most valuable education came through work experience.

With an initial investment of 100,000 US dollars, Afiong’s business has grown to employ 17 people with their first product being a range of dried fruit snacks and nuts which includes mango, pineapple, cashew, banana and coconut. The products are currently stocked in over 80 stores in Nigeria.

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ReelFruit exports some of its produce to West African countries and plans to export to Europe and the United States in future. They are also working on plans to acquire a 600,000 U.S. dollars investment to build a bigger plant soon that will see them grow, their own fresh fruits.

Reelfruit is an award winning brand winning both an international women in business competition in Netherlands, as well as an SME Exhibition (creative focus) in Lagos, Nigeria.

Affiong believes that agriculture has huge untapped potential both in wealth and job creation as her goal in 10 years is to provide employment for over 1000 Nigerians. She is motivated by the possibility that she can change lives and create employment and wealth for herself and others.

She hopes to be on the cover of Forbes Africa in five years’ time.

Follow her on twitter @affiSupastar

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