The Journey to FarmCI: From Curious Experiments to Quiet Fears

A QUIET REFLECTION ABOUT MY LIFE AS AN ENTREPRENEUR OVER THE PAST YEARS

Recently, I had to sit with myself and reflect on everything I’ve done since the day I started this journey, this idea now called FarmCI. And honestly, it didn’t start the way many entrepreneurs describe their beginnings. It wasn’t born from some “calling to solve a problem.” No. For me, it began as an addiction to innovation and competitions, an itch that started in primary school and grew stronger through secondary school.

I had the privilege of representing my school in various contests (academic, innovation, and even essay writing) and winning many of them. I was lucky to have teachers, especially one particular class teacher, who believed in me, mentored me, and gave me all the support I needed. Likewise, I was groomed and even given preferential treatment just so I could focus on representing the school in any academic or intellectual contest. Some of these contests ran for days, others weeks, sometimes locally, sometimes in another state, and sometimes virtually across countries.

After leaving school, I kept my curiosity alive. I dabbled in almost everything: computer engineering, photography, coding, media, electrical repairs, and electronics. I built a telescope from basic household materials and tried distilling methane gas from wood particles. Furthermore, I ventured into chemistry, astronomy, biology, agriculture, medicine, physics… I just wanted to build things. Learn things. Compete. Create.

Even when I wasn’t winning, I was always applying, especially for online competitions and challenges. I must have applied for over 500 opportunities that led nowhere. But it didn’t matter to me. I just loved the process of learning and doing something creative.

Then came university. And as you might guess, I didn’t stop. But now, I was exposed to this thing called entrepreneurship. I started dreaming bigger. I brainstormed multiple startup ideas. Furthermore, I applied for even more competitions, many of which I never built beyond the proposal stage. Sometimes due to a lack of resources, sometimes because I didn’t know how to take it further.

In 2022, I won my first real money: a $350 grant from LEAP Africa. It was the first time something came out of one of my “crazy hobbies.” With my team, we executed a project called Digital Amazonite(empowering female student entrepreneurs through digital skills), which was far beyond expectations. That success lit something in me. It made me think: maybe this could be something.

Then came 2023, and we won $10,000 from AFEX for an idea called FarmCI. It was an idea I had quickly created specifically for the competition. We even had a rough prototype, partly inspired by my work experience at an agriculture company during a school strike. Once I heard we’d won, even though the money took a while to arrive, I began forming a team, setting structures, and trying to make the idea into something real. I had no experience, no formal mentorship, just pure drive.

Since then, we’ve tested multiple ideas, some that stayed on paper, others that we actually built. Some aligned with FarmCI, others were completely different. But we kept moving. Kept applying for more grants. Tweaking the ideas. Pivoting. Reimagining.

One of those attempts led to Interkool, an idea crafted for the TotalEnergies 2024 Startupper challenge. I won that too. And as good as it felt, it brought a strange kind of pressure. For the first time, it felt like I had “arrived.” But truthfully? We still didn’t have a single paying customer.

That realization led me to do some deep self-reflection. I asked myself a brutally honest question:

Why haven’t we ever fully launched anything to the public?

So I grabbed a paper and wrote down every single fear, doubt, and internal blocker I had. Things I don’t often admit, even to myself. Here they are, raw and unfiltered:

My Fears and Doubts

• Public mockery: What if I fail and everyone laughs? Especially now that people are starting to notice us.
• Financial instability: If I go full-time, with no savings or side hustle, how do I survive?
• Managing people: Can I lead a team effectively?
• Managing myself: Can I stay focused and disciplined?
• Life restrictions: Will I have to sacrifice my youth, stop enjoying life, just to build this?
• Failed product: What if no one even likes or buys what we’re building?
• Public scrutiny: What if I succeed, and now I’m under constant pressure to deliver?
• Staying small: What if we never grow past the early stage?
• Growing too big: What if we scale too fast, and I can’t handle the pressure?
• Being stuck: If this works, am I stuck doing this one thing forever?
• Lack of resources: How will I raise the funds, the team, and the infrastructure?
• Betrayal: What if the people I trust turn against me?
• Stress and anxiety: How much mental strain will I have to carry?
• Isolation: Will I ever have peace again, or is this a life of constant stress?
• Being a role model: If everyone looks up to me, who do I lean on?
• Missing out: Am I trading in my youth for stress and responsibility?
• Responsibility overload: Can I be a good CEO and a good son, friend, partner?
• Losing comfort: Am I ready to leave behind my comfort zone?
• No Plan B: What if everything crashes? Do I even have a fallback plan?
• Uncertainty: Can I deal with the daily unknowns?
• Impostor syndrome: Am I even qualified to do this?
• Loneliness: It’s lonely at the top… how do I survive that?
• Losing it all: What if, after everything, I lose the company, the people, the purpose?

This is the point I’m at right now, not at the beginning, not at the end. Just somewhere in between.

Still building. Still questioning. Still showing up.

And that’s the story so far..

Written in antiquity, for my 27th Birthday.