Mariam, a businesswoman based in Lagos, is still waiting to be paid four years after investing nearly N15 million in two agricultural schemes operated by Azeez Oluwole, managing director of FarmKonnect, an Ibadan-based agro-investment company.
The businesswoman, who wants only her first name in print, told FIJ that she has waited patiently for several months, yet she and other investors remain unpaid.
Mariam told FIJ that she learnt of FarmKonnect in 2019 after she saw an advert on a social media platform. When she contacted the company, they seemed real, so she invested with them and it went well. But her subsequent investments went bad.
In March 2021, Mariam entered into a partnership agreement with FarmKonnect to invest N10 million in what it described as a hydroponics package, a seven-month agricultural business venture promising a 35 per cent return on investment (RoI).
“The agreement was signed on March 10, 2021, and the deal was that after seven months, I would be paid monthly and would receive my RoI over a period of another seven months. But that never happened. Not even once,” Mariam told FIJ.
Instead, Mariam said, Azeez later claimed the business had run into challenges and promised to place investors on a payment plan. For a while, monthly updates came from him, she said. Then, without warning, the communication stopped.
Mariam said the last time she received an update was in April 2024. Since then, emails to the company have gone unanswered, and no phone number has been available for inquiries, Mariam said.
“At one point, I received an invitation to attend a Zoom meeting with the MD. He said they would resume payment soon. But since then, nothing has happened,” she said.
The hydroponics deal was not Mariam’s only investment with the company. She had earlier committed N4.8 million to FarmKonnect’s onion package investment, which began in January 2021 and was supposed to run for 12 months.
“It’s now four years. I didn’t receive any monthly payments throughout that year, and I haven’t received a kobo till today. It’s the same story: silence and empty assurances,” Mariam said.
Mariam told FIJ the company looked legitimate at the time, with a functional office in Ibadan and regular communications that created the façade of credibility.
“But that was just a façade. They lured investors with agricultural buzzwords and promises of fixed returns. I’ve waited for years. At this point, it feels like the whole thing was structured to defraud us,” she said.
FIJ called FarmKonnect, but the company’s line did not connect. At press time, they had not responded to FIJ’s query via email or text.
In 2022, the Nigeria Police Force declared Azeez Oluwole, the managing director of FarmKonnect, wanted over a N50 million fraud.