Young chief executive wins international award
Olawale Ojo, young chief executive of Agropreneur Nigeria has emerged winner in Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards). He won in the Institutional Category (West Africa) of the 2nd Edition of the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo). Ojo focuses on providing youths with needed information on agriculture and agribusiness to stimulate their interest and change their negative perception toward agriculture
He was awarded at the closing ceremony of the “Revolutionising Finance for agri-value Chain” (FIN4AG) held in Nairobi Kenya with a plaque, a certificate and cash prize of 3000 Euros.
The Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards) is organised in the framework by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperatiob (CTA) in collaboration with other partners. It aims to put into limelight successes and issues faced by youths engaged in agriculture, in urban and rural areas; and to encourage the production of information and the use of new information and communication technologies by young farmers’ groups and organisations interested in the youth in agriculture question.
The competition was organised according to the framework of the CTA ARDYIS Project,which aims to raise youth awareness and improve their capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, using ICTs. The blog competition aims to put into public interest successes and issues faced by youth engaged in agriculture in urban and rural areas; and to encourage the production of information and the use of new information and communication technologies by young farmers’ groups and organisations interested in the youth in agriculture issue.
Subsequent to blog submissions, 121 blogs participated in the individual category and 24 blogs in the institutional category went through the public evaluation process where the public voted for two of their favourite blogs in the individual category and commented on the institutional blogs. 30 qualifying blogs which received the highest number of public votes in the individual category were selected and all the blogs from the institutional category which went through public evaluation were analysed and evaluated by the jury. After a keenly contested online voting process, the jury made its decision where Agropreneur Naija! emerged among the Top 12 bloggers of the Yobloco Awards invited to take part in the Fin4Ag international Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from the 14 – 18 july, 2014, where the winners of the YobloCo Awards were announced.
Agropreneur Naija is the social media outlet of Agropreneur Nigeria. Other partners with CTA in these Yobloco awards are e-agriculture, African Youth Foundation (AYF),Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (PAFPNet), Caribbean Farmer’s network (CAFAN), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) and Association Yam Pukri among others.
Ojo has a degree in agricultural engineering from the Federal University of Technology Akure and a diploma in Integrated Farming Systems from the Songhai Centre for Production, Training, and Research, Port Novo, Benin Republic.He started Agropreneur Nigeria in April 2012. The business provides business support services to farmers, especially young agriculturists. The firm also does advocacy and capacity building for young people. “We believe the future of the agricultural sector is in the hands of the youths when they take it as a business. So, we work on changing the mindset of young people and in turn provide information and business support to help them grow,” says Ojo.
To achieve this, Agropreneur Nigeria profiles successful young farmers called agropreneurs on the internet and share their stories so that others can learn. “That also serves as an incentive to these hardworking young people. We have also worked on agricultural research and share the information via social media to enable a proper understanding of what is happening in the sector,” Ojo says.
He explains that this business is targeted at the youths and it focuses on making agriculture attractive while at the same time introducing modern technology like ICT for agriculture and social media as a tool for knowledge and information sharing in agribusiness.
Agropreneur plans to have a considerable expanse of land separate from the family farm he runs, where youths can be trained in farming and can establish their own businesses. “We also want to engage rural areas by creating access to market for them and providing qualitative extension service for them, especially with the internet. I must say that a lot of youths are beginning to see that the agriculture sector is a gold mine,” according to Ojo.