For a farmer, harvest season should be a moment of reward. Months of preparing the land, planting, nurturing crops, managing pests, and navigating unpredictable weather have finally led to a yield. But for many smallholder farmers, the work does not end at harvest.What happens next can determine whether a good harvest translates into good income. […]
From Harvest to Market: Why Market Access Matters for Farmers Read More »
Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest and youngest populations, yet agriculture is still too often seen as an industry young people should move away from, rather than one they can help transform. For many young Nigerians, agriculture still brings to mind a familiar picture: farming as a physically demanding occupation, dependent on land, weather, and
Beyond the Farm: Where Young People Fit in Agriculture Read More »
Agriculture does more than put food on the table. Across Nigeria, it creates jobs, strengthens rural economies, and gives millions of smallholder farmers the opportunity to build better futures for themselves and their families. At Babban Gona, we see this every day in the communities we work with across northern Nigeria, where farming, done right,
Beyond Food: How Agriculture is Transforming Lives and Communities in Nigeria Read More »
Did you know that women play a far bigger role in agriculture than most people realise? For many, the word ‘farmer’ conjures up the image of an older man behind a plough. But across Nigeria and the wider African continent, women have long been an essential part of the agricultural workforce — planting, harvesting, processing,
Women in Agriculture: The Strength Behind the Soil Read More »
Imagine spending months planting, weeding, and nurturing a crop, only to watch a significant portion of it spoil, get eaten by pests, or sell for far less than it is worth because there was nowhere to store it. This is the reality for millions of Nigerian farmers. Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest agricultural producers,
Post-Harvest Losses: The Silent Killer of Farmer Profits Read More »
Nigeria imports a significant share of the food it consumes. Not because the land cannot produce it, but because smallholder farm productivity has never reached its potential. Closing that gap does not require a revolution. It requires better information. That is the core of precision agriculture: giving farmers the knowledge to apply the right input,
Precision Agriculture: Farming With Better Information Read More »
Food insecurity in Nigeria is no longer a distant threat; it is a daily reality for millions of households. Rising food prices, climate shocks, conflict, and supply chain disruptions have combined to stretch the nation’s food system to its limits. In the face of these pressures, Nigeria’s most powerful defense is not imports, emergency aid,
Scaling the Shield: How Smallholder Farmers Hold the Key to Nigeria’s Food Security Read More »
For generations, farming decisions were guided by experience; reading the soil by touch, watching the skies, and applying knowledge passed down over time. While this intuition remains invaluable, today’s farmers are operating in a far more complex environment shaped by climate variability, rising input costs, and market uncertainty. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Non-Executive Director
Pioneer of secondary markets for community development and $3.5B+ in managed funding.
Frank Altman is the founder and first CEO of the Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF), USA, where he pioneered secondary markets for economic development loans. Under his leadership, CRF funded over $3.5 billion in loans across 50 U.S. states. He was instrumental in designing the federal New Markets Tax Credit and is an advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Altman is an Ashoka Senior Fellow and the author of A New Capitalism: Creating A Just Economy That Works For All. He brings global expertise in risk management and capital structures to Babban Gona.
Independent Non-Executive Director
Board Chairman
Over 32 years of executive leadership in corporate and investment banking.
Alhaji Bello Maccido is a distinguished leader in the Nigerian financial services sector. He currently serves as the Chairman of FBN Merchant Bank Ltd. and has previously held board positions at FBN Holdings Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Legacy Pension Manager Limited.
He holds the traditional title of “Wakilin Sokoto” and is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
Alhaji Maccido’s educational background includes an LL.B from Ahmadu Bello University and an MBA from Wayne State University. He is a Barrister at Law (BL) of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and an alumnus of executive programs at Harvard Business School and IMD Lausanne.
Chairman of the Board
Non-Executive Director
Dr. Lola Masha is a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of mobility, technology, and agriculture. She currently serves as a Partner at Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, she was the Regional General Manager for North, East, and West Africa at Bolt, overseeing strategic operations in a high-growth mobility sector.
Her career includes leadership roles as Director of Trust and Safety at OLX Group (overseeing 30+ markets) and Country Manager for OLX Nigeria. She was also one of the earliest employees at Google Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Masha holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.Sc. from the University of Virginia.
Managing Director
First leader of a for-profit social enterprise to win the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
Prior to co-founding Babban Gona, Kola was CEO of a subsidiary in the Notore Group, where he led a commercial strategy to sell one million tons of fertilizer and raised $130 million in equity.
He has held leadership roles at GE and Abiomed and served as a Senior Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture.
Under his leadership, Babban Gona became the first for-profit social enterprise to win the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, recognizing the organization’s innovative approach to transforming smallholder farming in Nigeria.
He holds an MBA with Honors from Harvard and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
Prior to Babban Gona, Kola was a Managing Director and CEO of a major subsidiary in the Notore Group, one of Nigeria’s leading agricultural conglomerates, where he raised US$24 Million to develop an integrated agricultural trading, production and processing business.
Furthermore, he led the development and execution of Notore’s commercial strategy across West and Central Africa, preparing the company to sell one million tons of fertilizer and establish a modern seed business.
He led the effort to raise $130 million in equity and the restructuring of $360 Million in debt. Kola brings significant leadership experience in venture capital, corporate finance, business development, marketing and operations, across four continents with multiple global companies, including GE, Notore and Abiomed. In addition, Kola brings extensive public sector experience as Senior Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture.
In recognition for his leadership in driving positive change on the African Continent, he has received several global awards including the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, a leading leadership institute led by General Collin Powell and appointed to the Board of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund, a $250 Million fund that awards grants and repayable grants to private sector companies to support innovative business ideas in agriculture, agribusiness, renewable energy, adaptation to climate change and access to information and financial services. Kola holds an MBA (Honors) from Harvard and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
