Agro Nigeria Honours Three

Following a United Nations
research which showed that agriculture is eleven times more effective in combating poverty than other sectors such as mining and utilities because 70 per cent of Africans depend on it for their livelihood, Agro Nigeria has taken the liberty to spotlight some personalities who have in their personal endeavours contributed to the advancement of agriculture in Nigeria and with far reaching impact across the African continent and beyond.
There are many others, especially the rural farmers and women who have the odds against them, yet are committed to agriculture ensuring that the world feeds, but those listed below are few who are blazing the trail for agricultural developments.
Mrs Ndidi Nwuneli is a partner with Sahel Capital, a private equity and advisory firm focused on the West African agricultural sector.
She is also co-founder of AACE Foods, an agro-processing company and the managing partner of the African Alliance Capital Expansion (AACE).
She has provided policy, start-up and advisory services to the World Bank, IFC, DFID, Ford  Foundation, Oxfam International, the Nigerian Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Development amongst others.
Bolaji Akinboro emerged as the Nigeria Agriculture Award Agro-Innovator of the year 2014 for the innovative management of Nigeria’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme which has resulted in the transformation of its agricultural input supply system.
Akinboro was recalled home from Malawi, his place of residence at the time and was contracted to lead the team that will develop the technology for the GES programme in November 2011 and also provide programme management support to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).
Thirdly, Mrs. Folusho Olaniyan is the founder and chairperson of the Cassava Advancement Initiative.
Her venture into the agro-allied sector began when she joined A.G. Leventis Nigeria Plc in 1988 as a management trainee where she rose to become Head of Sales and Marketing, Leventis Foods in 2002.
She held the post till 2005 when she joined UTC Nigeria Plc as the Head of Sales and Marketing and later advanced to become the Managing Director/CEO of UTC Nigeria in 2007.
She is currently the marketing and strategy consultant to CAV9 Nigeria, an organisation sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the development of the cassava industry in Africa.
Agro Nigeria is the mouth piece of Agriculture in Nigeria whose main focus is reporting on agriculture.