Sola Bunmi Adeniyi knows a thing or two about building businesses across industries. As chairman of Highhill Group, a conglomerate spanning real estate, agribusiness, education, and human capital development, he has had a front-row seat to the financial traps that catch even the most ambitious entrepreneurs off guard.
His message to agribusiness operators is direct: revenue alone tells you nothing. If your costs are quietly swallowing your margins, the numbers on your income statement are more fiction than fact. Adeniyi's position is that profit discipline, not turnover, is the real measure of a healthy agribusiness.
It is a perspective worth sitting with, especially as more African entrepreneurs pour energy and capital into agriculture. The sector holds enormous promise, but promise does not pay salaries or keep the lights on. Knowing your cost structure as well as you know your harvest cycle may be the difference between a business that scales and one that simply stays busy.
Originally published by BusinessDay.