BIF Nigeria has now notched up 26 project approvals of which 12 (46%) have direct or indirect value streams that involve agricultural inputs. This is hardly surprising: Agriculture is a major branch of the economy in Nigeria, providing employment for approximately 60% of the population; about 49 % of the population engages in agriculture as their major occupation. Indeed, amongst the rural poor, over 70% of the active labour…

Unlike most other pilot locations, Nigeria is still commissioning BIF projects. That was always envisaged in the planning, with a slightly later start on the programme and a bigger budget to spend on scale-ups. Whilst we have successfully delivered many short projects, and a few more complex…

I’m sure like me, when you’re new to a subject of interest, you go ‘google’ it, right? I’m never quite sure what to expect, but I’m always pleasantly surprised to find something that is on all fours with my search parameters. That, however, is rare. I usually locate something a few concentric circles away from my ideal bulls-eye. And after a quick browse of that, I’m better informed on what I don’t want in my search findings. That helps me narrow my search better and eventually, I get close…

It’s been a busy week; barely a week since I’d joined the BIF team in Nigeria and here I was standing before you all, professing to be a believer, because I am. Let me paraphrase Bram Stoker, in the epic Dracula, here - I was longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we would talk together freely and build our castles in the air. Let’s face it, building castles in the air is exactly what most meetings, conferences and seminars do. So consider the ingredients: We were by the sea…