Abdullahi Abdi is the co-founder of Najibs Livestock International, specializing in the supply of purebred goats, blackhead sheep, dorper Sheep, merino sheep, bulls and camels.
The company whose services currently extend to the Middle East also offers livestock sourcing, management of livestock and delivery services.
Abdi established the company alongside his brother in 2021 when they thought of exploiting the export market by exporting livestock.
Here is their story as told by WoK.
In an interview with Business Daily, Abdullahi Abdi disclosed that he ventured into the livestock export industry in 2021.
This was after he realized that most entrepreneurs had invested in slaughtering animals leaving the export market unexploited.
As such, Abdi partnered with his brother and established Najibs Livestock International.
“Live animal export is a niche market and a very cash-intensive business. We realised that we could support livestock farmers from arid and semi-arid areas (ASALS) farmers more when we buy live animals from them compared to carcasses,” he said.
Although they also export carcasses, they have specialized in live animals which they mostly sell to the Middle East through Lamu Port.
The 30-year-old and his brother started their business using funds from savings, family members and friends.
With time, they also started using local purchase orders (LPOs) which guaranteed payment and loans from financial institutions.
Abdi who studied procurement and supply chain was a former banker before he quit formal employment for business.
While starting off, they could hardly do 5,000 animals but two years down the line, they ship at least 30,000 to 40,000 animals per month.
“You can never be successful when you have fear unless you are involved in illegal business
“It takes time, hard work, and determination and if you don’t take risks, you will never know whether you are going to make money or not,” he said.
Najibs Livestock International procure all its animals from large livestock herders and growers who purchase young stock, breed them and grow them for clients.
Abdi noted that they experience among other challenges logistics since they source animals from various regions.
“We do not have animal carriers in Kenya, so instead of using double or triple decker, we use one truck carrying only 200 animals and the same truck is used to bring animals for slaughter in Nairobi,” he added.
