As part of Management’s initiative at making FUNAAB a leading University of Agriculture, the former Industrial Park Unit (IPU), has been transformed into FUNAAB Companies for efficiency, revenue generation and better service delivery. According to the Production Manager of the FUNAAB Companies, Mrs. Modupe Agbotoba, apart from generating income, the outfit is also to serve as an industrial training centre for the students through training and re-training methods in production techniques. Other immediate and long-term plans include ensuring that all the companies’ products were duly registered and made available to many markets. And unlike before, when the bakery section used to produce five to six bags of flour per day, it would now produce between many more bags on daily basis.
Responding to how the companies sourced for raw materials, Mrs. Agbotoba disclosed that the companies buy from the Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre (AMREC) and other centres in the University as well as other farmers, among others. Mrs. Margaret Bamgbose, the Chartered Accountant to the organisation, re-iterated the commitment of staff at making the companies truly self-reliant. She lauded the University Management for recently purchasing two buses for operational use. Mrs. Bamgbose, however, said just like other new and evolving company, funding was still a major challenge, urging the University to invest more funds in the outfit. Giving a word of advice for the many unemployed youths, who are looking for white-collar jobs, Mrs. Bamgbose encouraged such persons to go into private business in line with the policy of government on self-employment.

The Industrial Park Unit (IPU), now FUNAAB Companies, was established in 2009 to revive the production of edible food products as income-generating venture for the University.
These products include the odourless fufu flour, bread, honey, palm wine, cashew nut and palm oil, among others.
 

Last Updated on September 20, 2015 by admin