After Several Job Hunting, Female Graduate Switches Into Fish Farming Business, Now Doing Very Well, Shares Her Story

Cursory: Osinakachi Donatus, a graduate turned fishmonger, has disclosed how and why she started the business in an interview. She also stated the challenges she has faced so far and talked about how lucrative the catfish business is.

Osinakachi a graduate of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) with a Higher Diploma in accounting in an interview stated that she got into fish farming after she graduated from IMT, but was unable to get a well-paying job for years.

Osinakachi said she graduated from IMT in 2012 and registered for her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) the same year. However, after serving in Calabar, she applied for several accounting jobs but was unable to secure any.

She said:

“My name is Osinakachi Donatus. I’m a graduate of Institute of management and technology, IMT Enugu. I am a fish farmer.

“I graduated in 2012 and served that same year in Calabar. Since then, I have been submitting to various companies and banks, to no avail. Some called for interviews while some didn’t. Others made fake promises.

“After much waiting, I decided to go into teaching. From there I raised some money to set up ponds in my father’s compound. I took a loan to assist my business.”

She said that her brother introduced her to fish farming, after which she decided to dump teaching to start farming since teaching wasn’t so lucrative for her.

“I came to know fish farming through my younger brother who told me about it. He said instead of teaching, although it is a noble job, I should go into fish farming.

“I disagreed initially because I thought there was a very high rate of death of fish in the business. He still encouraged me to give it a trial which I yielded. Now I can proudly say I am a full-blown fish farmer”, she said.

According to her, the mortality rate of her fish was a bit high when she started. However, with time, she has been able to work on this and reduce the mortality rate of the fish.

In her words:

“The business has been up and going and God has seen me through. The business has been going so well. I’ve learned about the business and how to reduce the rate of mortality.

“I know more about the growth of the fish and how to aid it. I have also been managing fish ponds for new farmers.”

Osinakachi maintained that the business is lucrative for her and she doesn’t regret leaving teaching to become a farmer.

“Yes it is. In fact I will advise the young ones to look into it. Not only fish, there are some other farming jobs youths can also go into. Like snail, pig farming, e.t.c.

“At the time I started, I had just 1000 fishes, but now I have been training over 5,000 fishes,” she said.

Speaking on the challenges she’s facing, Osinakachi said:

“My major challenge is finance because I want to go into large scale farming. I also want to expand my business to poultry. I need more money to achieve this.

“Also, I need more space to train more fishes. I’m using a small portion of land for my ponds and I need more space to buy and train more fishes.”

When asked what she will do if she gets an accounting job at this point she said,

“I won’t leave fish farming if I get an accounting job now. Fish farming is lucrative. I just need to expand and make the most out of it.

“Through this, I can also help the unemployed and even help them in the business. Currently, I have trained over four people in the business and also helped them to say up their ponds.

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