 If you had a chance to change one thing in Africa, what would it be? Wow. I would change the mindset of women especially. Wow. Preach. The mindset of women wanting everything to be brought to them easily. We have the potential, we have the creative minds to do work for ourselves. So if I was to change anything, I would really make sure women really put their minds to work. Focus on making a change in our society, not only to wait for people to bring them already made stuff. My name is Christine. I am born and raised in Uganda. I have a bachelor's degree in information technology and I'm a happily farmer. And we have a mixed farm here, it's called Value Farm. Of course I operated with my co-director or my business partner. When you wanted to partner with him to go into Fado, what were your parents saying or even your friends around you? Oh my God. In fact, they were shocked. My dad of course didn't know about it, not until he started seeing the videos coming out. I tell him because I feared at first I was like, how are they going to waste their money to take me to university. Then they're going to see me farming. But actually he called me one time. He told me, I watch one of your videos. I'm so proud of you. He was so proud. I was like, I was being shocked because I'd really been scared to even tell him that I'm doing farming. It's been definitely challenging, rewarding, like anything in life that you that's worth having you have to work for it. And so far so good. I don't think I would do anything differently if I had to do it all over again. The only thing I probably would do differently was get to UG maybe 10 years sooner. We actually started the mixed farm because it is really in a system. Most people really want to do crop farming, but livestock is also inevitable. We started with three goats. You'll see the numbers coming. We started with three goats. Everybody thought we were crazy. We had all this land and all the workers that was working for us at the time, building up and they're like, look at the stupid Americans. They have all this place with just three goats. So the hardest moments are the days when maybe we are taking them to the market, to the butcher, or maybe other people are taking them to other farms. Of course, that attachment still hurts. So most times we do the selection and I go somewhere else so that I don't see, I don't experience them leaving the farm. Farming to me means, you know, an opportunity to actually have a chance of creating something, right? Apart from, you know, going to work, getting a steady paycheck, that's somebody giving you something. With farming, you actually have the opportunity to actually put something in the ground with your own bare hands and actually have it turn into something that you can turn around and feed, not just your family, but ultimately the world. So that ability in itself is truly priceless. This is actually the place of my life. It's exciting to see what is happening right here because I'm a big fan of telling the diasporas to come back home. But when the diasporas come back home, sometimes they don't meet the right partners on grounds. At the end of the day, they lose everything that they have and they'll still come back and say, Maya, you are the cost of our problems. So seeing an African-American and Ugandan partner over here makes me the happiest guy on earth right now. So first I'm of meeting you, but I think I know her. How come you changed your name? I had to change it, but my name has always been Christine, but of course most people call me Tina. Two of them have done something incredible and the fact that they use the name value. Yeah. Why value value? Value Farm is just a name that we really chose for the company because we provide value to the people. We want to encourage farmers out there. We always just do not tell them theory, but we also show them what is actually happening at Value Farm all the time. And just to dovetail on that, the main reason why Value Farm settled on our heart is because we wanted to come to the village and add something. Many people come to the continent, they take away, they enrich themselves, they try to take advantage of the situation, but for us we wanted to come, elevate ourselves as a company, but also take our fellow brothers and sisters along with us here in the village. So people know everything comes from the village, the food, the garden, the water, but here at Value Farm it's about teaching, it's about elevation, and it's about adding value back into our community. That's the reason why the majority of the people that work here are from the region. Before I continue this video, I'm just going to ask for a favor. Like this video. I think I need 100,000 likes, 50,000 from African-Americans and 50,000 from Africans. Just to let you guys know that this is what we need for the continent. First of all, why Uganda in the first place? For me it was easy. Initially I was actually supposed to come to your country, and the reason that is because when I started researching about, I looked into going to Portugal, I considered going to Mexico, I considered going to even, maybe perhaps Brazil, but then when I actually started doing additional research about, you know, Africa, as a whole, and everybody, even everybody in my family, the moment you Google Africa, period, the number one person that come up was you. So, I found your videos first, I started watching from you, I also found a crazy American named O'Shea Duke Jackson, credit to him, ironically enough, you guys actually know each other, but then I was set to go to Ghana. I was speaking to a team in Ghana, and that gentleman decided to work with another group, and it was okay, but as faith would have it, I found Tina, and my flight was booked to go to Ghana, I was going to go to the Tema region, and then literally I found Tina, we started talking, and it was initially I reached out to a few people, and she was one of three that actually wrote me back. We spoke, we hit it off, and the more we spoke, the more I realized, like, number one, this young lady here was actually using her own money to do work for me while I was still in the U.S. So, the reason we here today is because of the people standing here. You understand? It started with you, it led me to Tina, of course, O'Shea, but then Tina was a part of our uniform from day zero, because she started as my realtor, partner on the ground, trying to help me find a place, and she's the most integral part of what we do as a company. Thank you so much for representing Africans. You know, sometimes the diaspora is out there, don't believe in Africans on the ground, but you changed the whole narrative. Of course, of course. Why you decided to help him without even you knowing who he is? Yes, I had to help a brother who wanted to do something for the continent, and of course, you've always watched your videos all the time, and I've seen people from the diaspora relocating here, but they have challenges with relocation. So, as a person who had a platform already and also showcasing what was in Uganda, I didn't want to be a bad person. So, when he reached out to us, to me, I found that as an opportunity to really do something for the continent and also to help fellow youth. And of course, I was also working in a corporate job before that, and I quit because I wanted to do something. Now, talk about faith and trust, which was the remarkable aspect of the way our relationship started, because I came from a corporate background. I grew up on a farm in France, right? But then, you know, in terms of negativity, we always hear about Africa as a continent. You can trust nobody here. They're going to steal from you. They're going to rob you. And so, when I started speaking to Tina, it was the complete opposite. Literally, because even the degenerate behind the camera here, right next to your camera person, these are the network of people I first met when I got to Uganda, and they've stuck by this project since day zero. So, she's never, she's been nothing but integral. She's been fair. She's been, I mean, talk about sacrifice. Her career, 10 years plus, working for a company. But when I said, Tina, I need you as my partner if I'm ever going to make this work here, she actually resigned and made the full commitment. And that's why we're here, and the company's been flourishing ever since. When I met Tina for the first time, she had no time. She has to go to work every single day. I think the videos that we have to film, we have to wait until Saturday to film that very day. That means Tina loved her job so much. Tina, why would you quit? Oh my God. I had worked in that job for over 10 years. I had invested all my life in that job. After university, when I got that job, I thought, you know, I'm going to make the money. I'm going to live a good life. But the one who wasn't coming, the one who wasn't increasing, was leaving salary to salary. The same amount of money. There's no promotion at all. So that was a motivation for me, actually, even to start up a YouTube channel so that I can have side income. So when I started the side hustle of YouTube while working my nine to five job, it was a big challenge. I even actually, to tell you the truth, I wanted to resign that third year into the job. But I kept on, you know, keeping there just because I feared the unknown. I didn't know what to expect out there. So, of course, after, you know, doing my research, also watching other people progressing, good enough when my partner reached out, I saw this as an opportunity to be a loyal person, to have integrity, to help, and to do something better for myself as well. You don't regret quitting? I don't regret not even a second. Not even. How long has this farm been in existence? We bought this land in 2021. What? Yes. We started construction last year, 2022. Yes. And we are still constructing. We put in some few animals already. And that's where it is right now. How many acres is this land? A little over 100 now. So what kind of farming are you doing in here? So at this farm, we have goats. We have sheep. We have pigs. And, of course, there's a house behind us that's going to be introducing poultry in the near future. Because that way, one sector might actually be off-season, but you're always earning. And if you do happen to experience loss, which is part of life, which is part of business, all four, even all five sectors, can never crash at once. So you can still feed yourself and your family. What was the craziest thing you had when you decided to come to Uganda? The craziest thing I heard, my brother Jeffrey, my uncles told me, are you sure you want to go to Uganda? It's not where Coney is that kind of bush. And then I was like, actually I didn't think about that one, but I knew about Idi Amin. And so... And for me, when they brought that up, it was in the back of my mind. I was like, no, maybe it was in Zambia. Maybe it was another place, in Uganda. And my brother was like, are you sure you want to go there? I was like, actually, yeah. I felt it in my heart, not to mention, I've done a fair bit of traveling before with my prior career, but coming here, it was just like going to the Caribbean. As a matter of fact, my witness is right here. When I first got into my friend's car, as we were driving from the airport, I was like, bro, this looks just like Haiti. This looks just like any other country in the Caribbean, minus the ocean. So it felt comfortable. It felt like, essentially, I was coming home. And I have to say, for those people out here that are watching from the Uganda, that are watching in the US, throughout the Caribbean, being here on the continent, though I've been to Australia, London, you name it, the greatest fulfillment of my life is coming back here, especially on the continent, creating jobs here, opportunities, and actually doing something without bringing my experience from banking to actually have that benefit people here on the ground. A lot of us are back home. I have a lot of friends back home that are Africans. A lot of Nigerians. A lot of folks from Ghana, actually. You guys are great in banking. And they're suffering in the US. But I'm here. I'm thriving. I love the weather. I love the people. They're so nice, so kind. As long as we have a plan of action, anything is possible, especially when we have good partners. We are coming to the first structure. You go. First structure? Yeah. What is in here? You tell us, you know. You can hear them. Pix? Yes. Pix with no smell? Yes. That's different. Yeah. Hey. How did you guys do it? No smell. Yes, we use the IMO. As you can see, this is a different kind of system that we're using. The indigenous microorganisms. And we also spray the IMO solution as well. So that the smell is not there in the house at all. That's what we're using. How many pigs are here? About 130 left because we've been actually upgrading our stock. At one point this house had a total of 700 pigs. 700 pigs, but... But we decided to go just from meat processing to actually providing genetics. That's the key. Whether you're in Zimbabwe, Ghana, everywhere you go, we tend to do both, but we realize the key, how we can be most impactful is by getting the best genetics from South Africa and around the globe so that we can make it affordable and feasible for the next person coming into the space. You don't have to have a billion shillings to start. You can actually start very little and the whole model for our channel, you start small. I think big. And so as a company, we really practice what we preach. So we decided to actually get rid of a lot of the meat stock though we had the best in the region. But we actually decided we were just going to bring... Believe me, we're going to introduce you to a young male pig. You guess the age? We spent what, almost 1,600 USD for one pig so that we can get the proper genetics into this country. And we have many, many more to come because most folks can't afford to get a pig like this from South Africa. But when we have them here locally, we can give it to them at the local price. Inside? There's still no smell. How is that possible? Why this method? Well, the reason we chose this method, I mean it's not just for pure vanity or aesthetics. The reason we chose to go this way because the pigs are more comfortable this way. So not only does it help with the overall the actual cleanliness of the structure but it also makes it easier because when you have the regular slates, when you're breeding the pigs, you actually have to bring them to a different surface because if you have just a regular cement, if you have a 200, I would say 120 to 140 kg bore mounting a female, a lot of the time they can get the hips displaced, they can break their legs. But by using this here, no matter which stall you take them to, they're very comfortable. Not to mention the more comfortable they are, the more they put on weight, it's easier for them to sleep. And at night, we don't have to worry about it getting too cold for the piglets because they provide natural warmth and natural overall relaxation for the pigs. And when it's time for the pigs to deliver, they know how to do the nesting. It's just overall beneficial across the board. Can you see this young man here? That boy just came from South Africa. And if you could look at the muscle composition on this young buck, on this young piglet, itself is truly remarkable. The genetic enhancement that's going to come from this pig, it will change the face of breeding in this whole region, right? Because as a company we do from start to finish, what that means is we actually breed our own pigs from the time they're conceived and we actually raise them until we actually take them for processing. And this pig genetic will allow somebody to actually process the pigs within four and a half to five months. Typically a regular pig will take up to six months, sometimes seven months. You understand? That's why you spend over $1,500 to buy a pig like this. It's a game changer. How old is this pig right now? We want you to tell us. It takes four months. No, four and a half to five months. Then I guess it's just two weeks. That is too early. No. This one is a little over three months. Exactly. It's going to be blowing up in no time. But it takes four months. Four and a half to five months. To get ready. Yes. Now it's going to be a giant. A giant. Is the feeding expensive? Yes, it is very expensive. If you don't really plan for your feeds, it's going to kill you. So with farming, with pig farming, you need to plan well in advance. Even before you start your farm. Get somewhere that you can plant your maize, your soya, prepare so that you can definitely enjoy. Does it mean that you grow your own food here? Yes, we do. We do plant our own maize. We'll take you to the field where we actually prepare now as the season is about to come. We intend to plant at least 25 acres of maize. At least five to six acres of soya. That then takes the feeding cost to like 25 to 20, 25 percent. Somewhere along there. But if you don't prepare, the feeding cost can run up to 80 percent of the cost. So we always preach to people before. In fact, you know how many times people call us. We do something very different. Well, when people reach out, they're ready to give us the money. But we consult with them. We're like, hey, listen, before you actually come pick up these cute little piglets, that's going to become giants in just two to three months. You should definitely source your food. If you can plant for yourself, do so. And we've actually turned away money by wanting to protect our fellow farmers coming into the business. But those same people, when they come back ready, they always write us back and say thank you. And they refer more customers to us for doing the right thing from the get go. How's the mortality rate? The mortality rate actually is very low for pig farming, especially here, as long as you follow the biosecurity. Biosecurity is key. Do not let people just in and out of your pig house. In this actual building here, we only have three people who are allowed to come here all the time. Other people, we employ, I think, around 15 people in the farm, but only three are allowed to get into this structure. So we don't really allow people to come in and out. So this also helps with diseases not coming into the structure and also our pigs being safe in here. So the mortality rate actually is very low. We don't really treat that much. We only give our pigs iron shots when they're born at two weeks, at two days, then at 21 days as well. Will you say pig farming is profitable? Wow, that is a good question. It's very, very profitable. Imagine... See, I mean, come closer. I love numbers, you know. My lyrics are... No, no, I did mathematics, so I'm very good at numbers, yeah? So I just want to ask you this question. If it's that profitable, doesn't mean it's more profitable than the job that you're doing. Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Tina, don't be bashful. Tell them the truth, right? Yes. So let me just help you here and we can do this as a team. You know, Africans, we don't like talking about money by now. Bro, I'm an American, I'm a banker. We talk about the money and there's no shame in the money, all right? So when it comes down to it, so as you mentioned before, we bought this land in the beginning of 2021, right? Yeah, 2021. And it took us about six months to start doing some of the fencing, building some of the structures that you've seen now. Our first full year in pig farming, I'm going to say on the average, let's say not even hypothetically speaking, on an average weekend, and we make between 10, sometimes 15 million shillings per weekend. So the first year, she made almost 10, if not 12 times her salary, right? And pig farming. I know why she says she doesn't regret. I'm like, why would you leave the corporate and you still don't regret leaving the corporate? I don't regret it at all because I'm really happy here because 15 pigs to really compensate for my yearly salary. Many people want to buy cars. Some people want to buy fancy cars. With us, we invest it into the goats. You can never go wrong with these breeds. How? Because at the end of the day, you tell me what other company or stock or market, you can invest $2,850. A year later, you have a return of at least $9,000 to $10,000 in your bank account. You're looking at it. Where did you get this breed from? South Africa. These are Boas. These are Boas. We have Boas. We have Savannah's. Well, and here with the pure breeds, we have over 20, but we import at least four to seven, sometimes eight every other month. So the goal for us is to get up to about 60 of the pure breeding stocks. And by next year, the goal is to have at least two to 300 so that way we can start selling to the general population. So really in total, we have over 300 so far for the crossbreeds in the field. That's not millionaires. I'm walking with millionaires. This is a dam, right? Yes. You guys created it or it's just natural? It was created. It was dug. The first time we came to the farm, the first investment, I think was this. It was. Because, you know, in this village, there is water scarcity for the whole village. Most people used to really go to further places to fetch water. In fact, this was one of it. We have another one at the front of the farm that we also give to the community. We have one that we dug in the front of the farm. So during the dry season like this, we open it up. We provide water for the whole community. So people come from as far as 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers. We just keep it open. Unrestricted water for the whole area. Clean. Tap. But this one is not clean, right? This one is clean. We filter it, but this is just for our animals. We can use this for irrigation. We use it for our pigs. We filter it here. We filter it at the point of intake. But we also treat it also in the tank as well. But this water we do not drink. There's something that I want to know. You've been saying my partner, my partner, my partner, all this water. You know my PA is from Nigeria and she normally say my partner. And my partner is actually the, what do you call it? The boyfriend that she's not married to. No. We are business partners. Business partners. My business partner. See, I'm from America. You could be my partner. He could be my partner, you know. If I had, if it was a relationship, I would say this is my girlfriend or my wife. No, this is my business partner. So you guys are just business partners? 100%. Will they encourage more partners like this on the motherland? You have to. That's the only way you're going to make it. Now, you know, from my personal experience and from also doing research, we get that there's quite a few Americans, folks from the UK, you know, even, you know, other parts of the world that come to the continent and they face challenges. Well, the best way to help navigate those rough waters is by actually having somebody who is from that environment, who could be trusted, that can actually help guide you through that process. So yeah, this is a no-brainer. Trust is the key here. Trust, integrity is the key ingredient. What has been the biggest challenge that you've faced on this journey? The biggest challenge we've had so far, I'm sorry to steal this from you, my friend, is that, you know, we have a YouTube channel as well. So whenever people see our workers on our YouTube videos, they always come and poach them. So it's very difficult for us to keep talent, you know, because people feel that they work for value farm. They must be the best trained and you can have like a great employee happy with the way they're being paid here. Next week, you pay them au revoir. We constantly have to hire new people and it's a good thing because with us, we don't want to hold anybody back, you know. As a matter of fact, I take it as a source of pride when we have workers that came to us initially helping us with our fencing, then they get promoted to the herd and then ultimately assistant management. We even have an assistant management training program that we institute here. So if we see somebody that actually have, you know, the right attitude, the right passion, we actually start to have that person work very closely with the different department managers because ultimately it's either we're going to expand or when somebody reaches out to us, we can recommend that individual for an opportunity to become a manager elsewhere. That's how you're supposed to do it. Each one, teach one. One thing that I must commend you the fact that you came to the motherland and saw the opportunity, took advantage of the opportunity, but I believe that me and her being on the motherland, we never saw this opportunity. We didn't see this. Right? That's true. What are the opportunities that you've seen so far that you think the people living on the motherland take advantage of it? I have to tell you, that's like the greatest question of all time but even before I answer that question, like we are at times, we discuss this right and you should definitely get where I'm going with this. Where I'm from in the U.S., it's not all roses. You know, we have challenges there too. But the one thing I can tell you guys, there's something called classical conditioning. You know, when you're a poor kid, you grow up in a poor area, whether you're in the village, you could be in that village from the time you're born until you turn 21 or even 25 as a grown man. But that village has always been poor. If an outsider come in there and tell you know what, where you live in your village one day, this is going to be a city. Temma, 25 years ago, if somebody told those people who were living there, now Temma was going to become a metropolis like it's becoming right now, that poor village or living there would never believe it. So for me, with virgin eyes, the moment I got off the plane, everywhere we went, and I'm sure they get tired of me telling how beautiful this area is. Even on the dusty road coming here, how beautiful it is, how other folks from the U.S., you know, Caucasians, Black, whatever, they will find beauty in what we have here. But the people that are born here, it's so hard to see it because you've been conditioned for that. So for me, as far as opportunity in agriculture is endless, particularly in processing. Because in your country, you guys are the kings of palm oil production. Here in Uganda, we need more people to get involved into processing. What do I mean by that? Value addition. We need a group of folks. Guys, if you're out there, if you want to get into farming, you don't want to get your hands dirty, get into value addition because we have so much fruits in this country that goes to waste. We have so much avocados just dying on the vines, on the trees here. This could easily be converted into avocado oil, peanut oil, right? If someone can make the investment to build a peanut oil processing facility, that's how a local person from Uganda can become a billionaire with USD. It's in value addition and oil production, not the black oil. That one we know will never control. But in agriculture, everybody has a shop. If you come here, whether you're interested in getting into real estate, real estate development, agriculture, you don't have to be a farmer to benefit from what farmers do. There are opportunities there when it comes to making fresh juices, processed juices. It's all here. But we're just so accustomed to just having all the mangoes you can eat and let the rest of it go to ruins, right? But then a German person will come here. Somebody from the Netherlands will come here. They'll set up a very basic factory. Before you know it, they are authentic billionaires. The one thing I would change about this country is being from a different part of the world. A lot of folks here don't recognize how they have riches here. Again, for my world as a banker, we would talk about liquid. That's liquid capital, liquid cash. A lot of Africans may think they're poor. They might be cash poor, but they're very wealthy when it comes to their natural resources. And a lot of these guys are complaining that they're poor. They need to have the paradigm shift to get out of Kampala, go back to the village, because the money is truly in the soil. And you don't need to complain. You don't need to wait for the government to do for you. As long as you are not handicapped, you have your arms and your legs are working just fine. You have sound, mind, sound body. Go back to the village and get back to basic, and you can pull yourself out. Wow. You'll find a message to Africans in the diaspora. Oh, my gosh. Find a message, guys. It's time to come home, you know? Being a New Yorker, I'm sure you can hear the heavy New York accent. I have so many of my friends and family members. They admire what I do here. True story. I get so many of my friends that I want me to invest their money here for them on the continent. But I refuse. I want them to come back and do it for themselves. I can be a guide. I can show them the way. Because I've been here now for over two years. So, you guys, it's time to come fishing. Time to come home. Stop with the excuses. Get out of the office. Get out of the cold winters of New York. Get out of the bitter winters of Canada. Come back to the motherland and come get this real money. The opportunity is here. Do not despise farming. We have the opportunity. Grab it and make something out of the opportunity. Do not just underlook farming. We are farmers. We are happy, educated. But we are dirty. We are digging what we are feeding the world. We are feeding the society. We are feeding the nation. So, let's grab this opportunity, guys. It's the good Lord's work.