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Dr. Usman Ali Lawan – Social Entrepreneurship: A panacea to building sustainable and profitable agribusiness ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Smallholder farmers in Africa contribute up to 70 percent of the food supply that we eat. These farmers suffer from several challenges including unpredictable climate, land overuse, lack of access to extension support, and post-harvest losses. However, smallholder farmers can increase their productivity and improve their livelihood by adopting sustainable farming practices through networks of geo-cooperatives and aggregator models that provide them with input credits, training, and links to markets. This talk focuses on how USAIFA is using internet and mobile technology to help farmers in Nigeria increase their productivity and improve their livelihood by adopting sustainable farming practices.

Your Timezone

  • Timezone: America/New_York
  • Date: Mar 16 2022
  • Time: 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM

Speaker

  • Dr. Usman Ali Lawan Dr. Usman Ali Lawan Founder of Farmer In Suit & USAIFA International Limited
    Dr. Usman Ali Lawan
    Dr. Usman Ali Lawan
    Founder of Farmer In Suit & USAIFA International Limited

    Usman Ali Lawan is an expert in entrepreneurship and agribusiness development. He founded USAIFA International Limited in 2013, a sustainable farming venture that practices and promotes zero waste agriculture. Lawan also founded Farmer-In-Suit, an online Agric investment platform which crowdsources funding and uses it to provide farm input credit, extension services and links to markets for smallholder farmers in a profit-sharing arrangement. He has more than 13 years experience working on zero-waste agriculture, while providing training and mentorship to a network of 7,250 smallholder farmers across 4 states in Nigeria – most of them women and youths. Lawan holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration: Agribusiness Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a Masters in Energy Studies and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He is a Senior Fellow of the Aspen New Voices Fellowship and a recipient of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Lawan is also a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur.