Entrepreneur and Nollywood filmmaker, Mbong Sule, says commercialising Cross River State’s agricultural resources can create opportunities across the value chain and complement the state’s tourism potential.
Sule, who spoke in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos, said she is pursuing this initiative through her company, Southern Girl Co. Ltd., which sources raw honey from Obudu and processes it for consumers beyond the state.
She said the state was widely associated with tourism and natural attractions, in spite of its significant agricultural resources.
Sule said developing products from the state’s agricultural resources could create businesses around local production while drawing wider attention from tourists.
“I think it’s important that we find ways to commercialise these resources, create opportunities within the value chain, and ultimately put Cross River in an even brighter light.
“We’re sourcing authentic raw honey from Obudu in Cross River State, and there’s something really special about taking a natural resource from our own land,” she said.
She said the honey was being packaged in its original form and as ginger, lemon-ginger and Madagascar vanilla-infused varieties.
Sule said a market survey informed the decision to develop different variants, following an identified opportunity for honey products with different flavours.
According to her, the products were recently introduced at the African Travel Market Festival, where participants sampled the variants and asked about their source.
She said taking the honey beyond its source community could demonstrate how agricultural resources could be developed into products with wider market reach.
“I am particularly excited about what this can mean for Cross River, because we talk so much about the state’s tourism and natural beauty but there’s also so much agricultural wealth here,” she said.
Sule said the honey venture was part of her wider business interests, including Southern Girl Kitchen, which focuses on indigenous dishes from Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
