One of the fastest-growing rice brands in the world is Black-owned and produced in Ghana. Nana Owusu-Achau is the founder of Agro Kings, which produces the Nana’s Rice brand.
Owusu-Achau was born and raised in Ghana but attended school at Calvin College in Michigan where he doubled majored in engineering and business & information systems.
He landed what many would consider the dream job upon graduation. He was accepted into a Wall Street firm but decided to move back to Ghana to use his skills to benefit the Ghanaian people.
When he returned to Ghana, he joined his father’s real estate business and started his own property firm a year later. Despite the success with real estate, Owusu-Achau always had an interest in agriculture and started farming. Both of his ventures of cattle-rearing and a maize project failed in 2017.
But he didn’t give up.
During a visit to a rural town in Ghana, a local chef handed him some rice grown by a small farmer. He was impressed by the quality and the taste. He found out that producing higher quality rice was more expensive and seized on an opportunity.
He provided financing, seeds, and training, to two small farmers in the area to supply him with high-quality rice.
After the first harvest, Owusu-Achau promoted the rice on WhatsApp.
“I said on my WhatsApp status that I’m selling good quality, locally made rice. Within about two hours, I sold all the bags,” Nana Owusu-Achau told How We Made It In Africa.
Demand for his rice increased, so Owusu-Achau added more personnel, acquired 10,000 acres of land, and invested into better packing for the brand.
“We are spending a bit more on production and producing attractive packaging,” he added. “It is common for people to think that local produce is not of good quality and not packaged properly. We want Ghanaians to know it is possible to produce at the same level of excellence as imported brands and even better.”
Nana’s rice can be found in hundreds of stores in Ghana, as well as the U.S., U.K., Belgium, and Germany.
To find out more information about the rice brand and Owusu-Achau, click here.
