How Palm Kernels Small Business Becomes Industrial Wealth - Rasheed Adegbite, CEO Of AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD Recounts On His Journey

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

By Fatima Saka

On a special correspondence visit to South-West Nigeria, DISTINCT NEWS NIGERIA visited AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD, a palm kernel processing company located in Owode Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State. The Chief Executive Officer, Rasheed Adegbite, spoke on his journey from searching for employment after university to building an integrated palm kernel crushing and oil-processing business.

He also discussed industrial challenges, labour shortages, electricity constraints, community development and opportunities for young Nigerians.

Brief Background

Rasheed Adegbite is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD, a palm kernel processing and refining company established in Ogun State.
A native of Ipokia in Yewa land, Adegbite attended Ipokia Local Government Primary School and Muslim Progressive High School before proceeding to the university, where he studied Industrial Chemistry after initially aspiring to study Medicine. He graduated in the early 1990s and completed his National Youth Service Corps at the Federal Government Science and Equipment Manufacturing Centre in Enugu State.

Unable to immediately secure paid employment after graduation, Adegbite entered the palm kernel trading business through the encouragement and financial support of his elder brother. What began as buying palm kernels from communities around Ipokia and transporting them to industrial buyers in Lagos later developed into a full-scale processing enterprise.

In 2005, he began developing the AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD facility, building the business gradually into a company involved in palm kernel crushing, oil extraction and refining.

Q: Can you explain what AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD does?

Adegbite: We are involved in the production and processing of Palm Kernel Oil, known as PKO, and Palm Kernel Cake, PKC.

We have a palm kernel crushing machine called an expeller. The machine crushes the palm kernel and mechanically extracts oil from it. The remaining cake still contains some quantity of oil that cannot be removed mechanically.

We therefore send that material to a solvent extraction plant, where more of the remaining oil is extracted chemically. The final residue is known as de-oiled cake, or DOC, and it is useful for animal feed.

The oil we extract is supplied to industries, including soap manufacturers. We also have refining capacity. Through refining, the oil can be processed into products used by cosmetics manufacturers and confectionery companies.

We also refine palm oil into products such as olein and stearin.

Q: For someone unfamiliar with palm kernel processing, where does the kernel come from?

Adegbite: The palm kernel comes from the oil palm fruit.

From the palm fruit, you first obtain palm oil. Inside the nut is a shell, and inside that shell is the kernel. You have to crack the shell to get the kernel.

After obtaining the kernel, you crush it to extract the oil contained in the seed.

So, from the palm fruit and kernel processing chain, you can obtain different products, including palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel shell and palm kernel cake.

Q: What are the major uses of the products you obtain from the processing?

Adegbite: The oil extracted from the palm kernel has several industrial uses.
When refined, it can be used by confectionery manufacturers, including biscuit producers. It can also be refined for vegetable oil applications and other food-related uses.

The oil also has applications in soap production and cosmetics manufacturing.
The cake remaining after oil extraction is useful in the livestock sector. It is sold as an ingredient for animal feed.
So, virtually every part of the processing chain has economic value.

Q: What prompted you to go into this business?

Adegbite: After I finished my university education, I graduated around 1993 and went for my national service in 1994.
Like many graduates, I was searching for a job, but employment was difficult to find.

My brother had friends who were involved in buying and selling palm kernels. He introduced the business to me and asked why I was moving around looking for a job when I could start a small business.
He raised some money for me, and I began by buying palm kernels from communities around Ipokia and neighbouring areas. I transported them to Lagos, where there were companies buying the product.

As I continued in the trade, I developed more interest in the industrial side of the business, particularly palm kernel crushing and processing.

That was how the journey started.

Q: When did you establish the factory?

Adegbite: I started building this place in 2005.

It was not something that happened overnight. I developed it gradually, little by little, and continued expanding the operation to where we are today.

Q: Did your academic background influence your decision to go into processing?

Adegbite: Yes, to some extent. I studied Industrial Chemistry, so I have always had an interest in industrial processes.

Initially, I wanted to study Medicine, but I later realised that my financial background would not allow me to sustain the cost of medical education. I eventually opted for Industrial Chemistry.

Later in life, I found myself in an industry where processing and industrial knowledge became relevant.

Q: Tell us briefly about your educational journey and childhood.

Adegbite: I am a native of Ipokia and I grew up in the area.

I attended Ipokia Local Government Primary School and completed my primary education in 1979. I later attended Muslim Progressive High School for my secondary education and finished in 1984.

I gained admission to university in 1986. My educational journey had some changes because I initially wanted to pursue Medicine, but because of financial limitations, I eventually settled for Industrial Chemistry.

After graduation, I completed my National Youth Service Corps in Enugu State between 1994 and 1995 at the Federal Government Science and Equipment Manufacturing Centre.

Q: Why did you decide to establish the factory in your home area instead of a more industrialised location?

Adegbite: I wanted to develop my own area.

I considered locating the factory in another industrial community, but I felt there were already many companies there. I thought it would be better to bring this investment closer to my people.
I am from this community, and I am interested in contributing to its development.

That was one of the major reasons I established the factory here.

Q: You mentioned backward integration. What does that mean for your company?

Adegbite: Apart from the processing business, I have an oil palm plantation.
The plantation is part of our backward integration strategy. The idea is to support our raw material supply and reduce dependence entirely on external sources.

The processing factory is my main business, and it requires my attention every day. This is not a business you can easily run as a part-time venture. You have to be physically involved and monitor the operation.

If you neglect it, you can have serious problems.

Q: What are the major challenges confronting the company?

Adegbite: One of our major challenges is labour.
It is difficult to get enough workers locally. Many people around are not interested in regular salaried jobs. We have had to recruit workers from other parts of the country, including northern Nigeria.

We provide accommodation and transport support, and we pay salaries regularly.
Another major challenge is electricity.

We receive supply through the transmission system from the Ota axis, but our operation is affected whenever there is a fault along the line. At the moment, for example, if a pole is damaged by a trailer or there is another technical problem, we may have to switch to generators.

Running an industrial facility on generators is expensive and affects production costs.

Q: What can be done to address the labour shortage?

Adegbite: We need more sensitisation.
People should understand that regular employment and productive work are important. We try to encourage workers by assuring them that salaries are paid and that we do not deliberately owe our employees.

There should also be a change in attitude among young people. People must be willing to work and build experience.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with the host community?

Adegbite: We are one family.
This is my community. I am from Yewa and I am from Ipokia, so I see the people as my own people.

As an industry, we try to maintain a good relationship with the surrounding community.

We have also supported electricity access in some areas. At a point, we shared our power supply arrangement with a neighbouring community. However, electricity distribution and payment challenges made that arrangement difficult to sustain in some places.

Q: Beyond your company, what infrastructure challenge do you think government should address in rural communities?

Adegbite: Electricity is very important.
The grid supply is not reliable enough for many rural and industrial communities. Government can invest more in renewable energy and solar-powered infrastructure, particularly solar streetlights.

Some solar streetlights already exist in rural areas, but they do not cover enough locations.

There are also communities where large generators are used to power public infrastructure and streetlights. Similar interventions can be considered where feasible.

Access to reliable electricity will support businesses, improve security and encourage more investment in rural areas.

Q: What message do you have for young Nigerians, considering that you started from a period of unemployment?

Adegbite: My advice is that young people should understand that money comes from creating value.

You have to work, provide a service, produce something or solve a problem. Nobody should expect sustainable wealth without doing anything productive.

When I finished school, there was no job waiting for me. I started small, with support from my brother, buying and selling palm kernels.

From trading, I became interested in processing. From processing, the business grew gradually.

Young people should not despise small beginnings. You can start with what is available to you and build over time.

Q: What is your message to government on youth unemployment and insecurity?

Adegbite: Government needs to create more opportunities for young people to become productive.

There are many able-bodied people who are unemployed or dependent on begging and other informal means of survival. This can create social and security problems.

Government should develop practical programmes that can move people into productive employment, vocational training and enterprise.

When people have legitimate means of earning a living, communities will become safer and more stable.

Q: What has been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur?

Adegbite: Consistency and personal involvement.
Building this business has taken time. It was developed gradually. You have to understand your business, monitor it and remain committed.

Entrepreneurship is not always easy, especially in an environment with infrastructure and labour challenges. But if you remain focused and continue improving, the business can grow.
Q: Finally, what would you say is the vision for AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD?
Adegbite: The vision is to continue growing the business, improve processing capacity and add more value to agricultural products.

Nigeria has enormous agricultural resources. Instead of exporting raw materials or selling them without processing, we should encourage more local industries that can process them into products for food, cosmetics, livestock and other sectors.
That is where industrialisation and job creation can come from.

Distinct News Nigeria Correspondence Note

The visit to AR-RACHID VENTURE LTD offered an insight into how local entrepreneurship can transform an agricultural commodity into multiple industrial products.

From palm kernel oil for soap, cosmetics and food applications to palm kernel cake for animal feed, the company demonstrates the potential of value addition within Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

Adegbite’s journey, from an unemployed graduate searching for work to building a palm kernel processing enterprise, also highlights the role of small beginnings, access to modest capital and persistence in entrepreneurship.

However, his concerns about unreliable electricity, high dependence on generators, labour shortages and insecurity underline the wider challenges facing manufacturers and agro-processors in rural communities.

For Adegbite, industrial development is not only about building a factory. It is also about creating opportunities in the communities where businesses operate.

Interview conducted during a Distinct News Nigeria correspondence visit to South-West Nigeria In July 2026.