In order to boost Nigeria’s agriculture sector, Olam Agri, a leading agribusiness in food, feed, and fiber, has partnered with Nanyang Technological University, a top international study institute in Singapore.
The agribusiness funded the recently-concluded Singapore Business Case Competition X African Challenge 2023 put up by the school to create helpful, sustainable measures aimed at boosting the stability level of the local food value chain.
The Singapore Business Case Competition is a creative competition that is focused on Africa. It featured 34 teams made up of 135 undergraduates from over 11 universities which made expositions on weather-smart measures to Olam Agri with concentration on how to develop Nigeria’s agriculture sector, handle weather hazards, and look into the land and systemic problems hindering the attainment of food security. The contest was kicked off on February 25th, 2023, and ended with team TPG Consulting coming out as the overall champion on March 11.
The team TPG Consulting delivered solutions that seek to advance fish farming, solve the issue of rising local need for sea foods, tackle problems in the poultry sector, decrease cattle herd migration, use computerized tools to achieve effectiveness in managing seed-to-harvest rotations in vital crop areas, reduce agriculture trash, increase the work prospect of agriculture amongst others. The team won a $1,500 prize in addition to an all-expense spent trip to Nigeria to execute their solutions.
Speaking on the contest, Ashish Pande, the Country Head for Olam Agri Nigeria, said, “We are pleased to have let the wise, young minds to come up with idea case research that are able to improve the solidity of our food reserve chain. Especially, the views express a huge lever for opening the prospect of the aqua and poultry sectors, and increasing protein use in the region.”
“The current acquisition steps are parts of our signature value chain advancement drive through the Seeds for the Future scheme. The actions show our dedication to helping Nigeria reach its agriculture expansion and economic growth plan,” he added.
Saki Kobayashi, the Co-founder of EnerScale, who was a judge at the contest, was awed by the excellent performance of the contestants. In her words, “The participating teams showed outstanding performance during the SBCC X AC 2023.
I was especially impressed to see their use of technology and initiative to solve binding problems in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.”
In the same light, Amit Jain, the Director of NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies, clarified, “The participants at this year’s SBCC contest had the chance to try their ability, systematical thinking, and communication skillfulness by solving real trade issues.
