Entrepreneurs.ng caught up with Amaete Umanah, the founder and CEO of Honey Flow Africa after the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa.
Amaete Umanah is one of the pioneers of the Tech Startup movement in Nigeria. He is a serial entrepreneur who leads by example. Amaete has been a part of two accelerator programs in San Francisco and was a part of the Startup Nigeria and CCHub programs.
When we met him, we could not let the opportunity slip by being that we have been keeping tabs on him for a long time. Like we always say, the entrepreneur’s journey is indeed a challenging one. Getting to know people who are already making leaps in this journey is a great motivator to budding and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Fasten your seat belt and take a ride with us and Amaete.
Tell Us About Yourself
“I was born on the 9th of June, 1974 in Atlanta, GA, USA. I have a twin sister who is 2 minutes older than me. Part of my elementary school up until the 4th grade was in Atlanta. I finished elementary school and secondary school in Nigeria. After secondary school, I went back to the US to attend university in Los Angeles, CA.
My first achievement
For my senior project in my final year in the university, on demo day, I built a robot that could walk and detect metals. It was quite an achievement for me and caught the eye of the local newspaper that was covering the event.
I am a multi-disciplinary, serial entrepreneur who is passionate about gadgets, software and hardware development, gaming development and agriculture.
Advising, mentoring and speaking to other industry leaders is fulfilling to me and I am always open to collaboration. My expertise cuts across customization and integration of complex enterprise-level solutions. I bring to bear a well-balanced blend of technology skills and hands on experience.
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Professional Experience
My professional experience includes systems engineering, project management and business development. I have traveled extensively and have worked in several countries including Trinidad & Tobago, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, United Kingdom, and France. My experience includes an extensive background in electronic applications for the oil and gas industry, game development, manufacturing and software development.
I have been responsible for systems integration at water treatment, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, utilities, and manufacturing plants around the world.
I received my BSEE from the DeVry University at Pomona, California where I was the president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)”.
Tell Us About Family Influence in Your Career Choice
Both of my parents had a major influence in my life. They were both educators, so I spent a lot of time always learning one thing or another from them. My father taught Business Administration and my mother taught Mathematics at Ignatius Ajuru University in Port Harcourt for over 30 years.
Why your chosen industry?
I chose the path of entrepreneurship because I wanted to make a difference in the world, especially in Nigeria. The companies I have started in Nigeria are a testament to the kinds of problems we have here and how I am trying to solve them.
Do you have any mentor?
Having a mentor to me is the core to having a successful business and a successful life. The mentors I have all have a combined experience of over 100 years.
Tell us about Honey Flow Africa
Honey Flow Africa is leading a new evolution in beekeeping that improves predictability in bee keeping, honey production and honey processing. We are a team of Nigerian engineers and scientists who are passionate about honey and honey bee sustainability.
Honey Flow Africa is on a mission to improve the traceability, quality and availability of both organic honey produce whilst creating wealth for a generation of youth bee farmers.
My co-founder, Joshua Agbormedarho and I have been working and researching about bees for over 3 years. We registered the company on June 6th, 2018.
Tell us how you have leveraged technology in your business.
Honey Flow Africa is bringing the power of IoT (Internet of Things) to help digitize beekeeping. Moving from calendar-based decisions to data-driven solutions helps optimize beekeeping operations and keep healthy bees. Honey Flow Africa’s team in the future will support small scale beekeepers and hobbyists as well as huge African commercial beekeepers to embrace a modern approach in caring for their bees.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT will allow for continuous monitoring of sensor data such as weight, temperature, humidity, sound, foraging activity, rainfall, air intensity, air direction, and geographic location data of the apiaries.
How do you give back to the society? Any CSR projects?
Giving back is at the core of what we do at Honey Flow Africa. We plan on training over 1,000,000 women and youths over the next 10 years on how to become beekeepers to help supplement their income.
Tell us about other business interests you have apart from Honey Flow Africa.
My business interest outside of Honey Flow Africa includes, mentoring young and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Advice for someone starting out in your field.
Learn as much as you can about bees and the environment they live in. As much as we want to make money producing honey, we must also take care of the bees as well. Bees are the most numerous and effective pollinators in the world.
Albert Einstein said, “If the bee disappeared from the face of the Earth, man would only have four years of life left”. No bees, no pollination, no plants, no animals, no man. Let’s take care of these precious creatures.
What is your greatest achievement so far?
For me it’s launching Honey Flow Africa. Being able to address the need to stop importation of honey into the country and engaging many rural women and youths throughout Africa to become beekeepers and teaching them about our environment.
When all is said and done, what is the most memorable thing you have done that you want carved on your tombstone?
I would love for my tombstone to say “He Came’, He Saw and He Broke Barriers”.
What advice do you have for budding and aspiring entrepreneurs?
Look for a mentor, learn as much as you can, and never ever stop learning. In anything you do, God first, patience, discipline, passion, and the right attitude. Don’t think of life in Nigeria or anywhere as stressful, think of it as an adventure. Life is an adventure, embrace it. Don’t just think about yourself, think about others and help as much as you can. Lastly, always remember that people don’t fail, they just give up.
Tell us what your typical day looks like
A typical day for me always starts off with prayers to God because without Him, His grace, and wisdom, I would not be where I am today. I love to work out and keep in shape at least 3 times a week. Physical and mental fitness is needed to be successful in life. A typical workday for me is 10 to 14 hours a day.
How do you unwind?
Every now and then after work, I love to drink a glass of red wine with close friends and associates. On the weekends, Netflix and chill is the name of the game. I love watching movies, binge-watching tv series, and playing video games. I’d like to say that I have a green thumb because I love planting and pruning flowers and fruit trees. I absolutely love walking with my dogs in the mornings and evenings every single day of the week.
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