Meet Marion K Conteh, a Sierra Leonean agri-preneur and founder of one of Sierra Leone’s first online B2B agricultural businesses

Marion Kainde Conteh is a young and promising Sierra Leonean looking to shape and revitalize the farming sector in the country. She is the founder of one of Sierra Leone’s first online Business-to-Business (B2B) agricultural establishments.

Marion Conteh was born in the capital city of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Growing up, Marion was always eager about solving world problems, especially hunger and malnutrition. Her father was a gardener who spent most of his time cultivating barren lands to grow vegetables. The crops were used to upkeep her family while selling some for finance. In an interview with The African Dream, Marion Conteh stated, ” I was inspired and motivated by my father ( May his soul Rest In Peace). He was a gardener. Anywhere he finds himself with empty land he makes good use of it to grow vegetables, and honestly, it has been helping us since we feed and sold the crops he use to grow.” These experiences shaped the young farmer into believing that food is a necessity for human consumption and that she could make a living through agriculture.

R FARM

R Farm was founded in 2019 by Marion Conteh. R Farm Venture Sierra Leone is an agro-business that focuses on agricultural products like groundnuts, cabbage, cassava, cucumber, potato, corn, and okra. Her initial capital was from her savings. The business operates online where customers have an opportunity to make an order online or through phone calls and you will be assured of prompt delivery. The rationale is to have fresh and organic vegetables delivered to your doorsteps straight from the farm. “R Farm Business Venture is a potential profit-making business with a lucrative succeeding plan”, an optimistic Marion expressed.

Running a startup in Africa, most especially, an agribusiness has numerous challenges in Africa. At the moment, Marion Conteh is incapacitated with finance and farming types of equipment. She is not receiving any sort of government support, which makes her story far more remarkable. In addition, she requires a machine to process the groundnut paste and also lands to cultivate her crops. At the moment, the land in use was secured on a rental basis.

When asked about her vision for R Farm Venture, Marion replied, “.I see R Farm Ventures in the next 10 years owning acres of farmland not only for the growing of crops but also the rearing of animals and also get to develop an African store that will cater for everyone where we will be selling local organic food that is produced and processed and packaged by us.”