BY: MOHAMED SAHR
Esteemed readers, meet Benjamin Bockarie the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Youth Partnership for Aquaculture Development Sierra Leone Limited. An organisation that deals with self-sufficient fish farming that is located in the Southern Province.
Benjamin was born in the Eastern Part of Sierra Leone. Where he acquired both his Primary and Secondary school education. After his High school education, he got admission to Njala University in 2007 and pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree program with Honours in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management. He graduated with an outstanding first class degree and had a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.9 of which he was ranked as the Best student in the School of Natural Resources Management in 2021.
As if that was not enough for him, he also bagged a Distinction in Research and Internship. Benjamin is a hybrid transformational young leader with an impeccable blue prints in a define upliftment. Insofar, he is skilled in Project Designing, Management Research, Field Data Analysis, Communications and writing, Public Speaking, Debating, Idea Harnessing, Innovation Science and Computer Informatics.
He is one of the winners of the Agriculture Innovation Competition organised by UNDP Social Good Summit in 2021. He is serving as the Honourable Speaker of the Njala University Students’ Senate as well a candidate of UPG Biashara and Sustainability Leadership Program.
This lad has craved his niche in Aquaculture with wealth of practical experiences. He innovates the Aqua Green Fish Feed. Where he grows and feeds different types of fishes.
In recent times, he has engaged in fish farming with a team of women and youths striving to particular address Sustainable Development Growth 2,8,9 and 14, which together with his team primarily focus on giving a formidable barricades around the circular blue economic stream of Sierra Leone. Benjamin’s vision is to contribute in the fight against food insecurity and unemployment among the youthful population through Aquaculture program and problem solving initiatives in sensitive industries that will serve as a boost around innovation and industrial growth.
He believes that fish farming otherwise aquaculture is one of the peculiar industries that holds great implicit in scaling up the economic stands of Sierra Leone. Benjamin is currently housing a local fish market with fish products through aquaculture and also developing a fish field products that will largely tempt the involvement of people into fish farming as the problem of local fish feed unavailability remains unabated.
Benjamin Bockarie has got successful milestone as an aquapreneur in the form of rendering a market for fish product, an established fish feed prototype that has the potential to solve the existential threat in the fish farming value chain of Sierra Leone. He has built a team with the right skillset including networking with other entrepreneurs and by extension thereby winning a seat in the Sierra Leone Economic Diversity Project.
However, his challenges are knifed on lack of machineries to produce fish feed final products, transportation mechanism for the benefit of the people in the remote areas, water availability. That is to say, he lacks the availability of borehole, adequate infrastructures that help to augment typical fish farm setup.
To a larger extent, the impacts of his work or niche has been on the Fishery Industry in Sierra Leone by promoting food security through the production of fish and aquaculture products to the local fish markets with the likelihood of expanding the international markets
‘’I am very positive and optimistic that Sierra Leone can be the best place to live if only people with the right idea are given the right support at the right time,’’ he said .
