iProduce Africa, an agriculture technology firm sponsored by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), said it has put in place mechanisms to enhance operations and export capabilities of Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and agri-entrepreneurs as they seek to exploit opportunities in the government’s zero-oil plan.
According to a statement signed by Aisha Waziri-Umar, founder/chief executive officer of the firm, Nigerian owned agribusinesses and SMEs, especially young agri-entrepreneurs, will be trained on the requisite technical skills and integrated into global food value chains to equip them on how to export their produce.
Waziri-Umar, who held that agribusiness exports present a significant opportunity for job creation to absorb the youth bulge and improve the livelihoods of young people who make up the majority of the population, stated that iProduce will train the SMEs and agri-entrepreneurs on how to access finance, including non-interest funding, for their export activities.
Speaking on how the iProduce Africa intends fostering the programme, the founder explained that it is forming partnerships with the relevant government ministries and agencies.
As part of ongoing effort to make agribusiness export simpler and increase awareness on the available opportunities in the various global food value chains, Waziri-Umar said the organisation will on November 20, 2021, hold a training workshop for SMEs themed: ‘Accessing Non-Interest Finance For Agribusiness Exports’.
She explained that experts will be engaged by iProduce to train and advise agri-entrepreneurs on how to take advantage of Nigeria’s non-interest banking windows to secure financing for the export of high quality agric commodities.
iProduce was formally launched in August, 2021 by Adeniyi Adebayo, the minister of trade and investment.
According to the organisation, it has since inception, trained about 500 farmers on various areas of agribusiness, including livestocks, fruits and vegetables, garments, among others, and also conducted several training workshops.
According to Waziri-Uma, iProduce Africa plans to train at least 1,000 agri-entrepreneurs in 2022 and support them with the relevant agribusiness advisory services to boost exportation of “made in Nigeria” commodities.
