Burkina Faso: Livestock farming started with a school loan

Hamado Bonkoungou, 40 years, works in an aviation company. In parallel, he runs a business of fattening big and small ruminants in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

In 2011, Hamado was forced to take 110 leave days from work. He found it long and was looking for something to do during that time. This is when he started to rear the animals.

The beginnings were not easy for Hamado. He was neither trained nor had the experience in livestock farming. As a result, he lost many animals when he just started. But he did not give up. Today, he is managing his farm better and is able to make profits from his investments.

For Hamado, it is passion which is most important in livestock farming. “You have to love the activity. If you do not love what you do, even if you have the money, you cannot succeed in livestock farming”, he says.