Life at Babban Gona
TEMI OKEOWO
Head of Technology General Counsel & Lead, Partnership
“You will become the expert at solving the unsolvable.“
My name is Temiloluwa Okeowo, General Counsel & Lead, Partnerships at Babban Gona, and I want to share with you how I build a legacy of impact, my way. By way of background, Babban Gona is a social enterprise focused on increasing the profitability and productivity of smallholder farmers in Nigeria by atleast two times the national average. We do this by providing a holistic package of inputs and services to support farmers across the entire crop-cycle. Babban Gona seeks to address urgent social issues such as extreme poverty, unemployment, and the associated risks of violence and instability.
Our goal is to become the Earth’s highest impact company by creating opportunities for dignified and fulfilling work for rural youth, who are at risk of being recruited to conduct violent acts, thereby disrupting the downward spiral of poverty and violence. Talk about impact!
In my role at Babban Gona, amongst other things, I am tasked with securing the financing that we use to support farmers with their input packages. Why is this financing important? It’s simple. Without adequate funding, we cannot provide farmers with the essential resources they need to increase productivity and profitability. From seeds and fertilisers to equipment, technology and training, these input packages are the lifeblood of agricultural success. I am not only facilitating transactions but also contributing to the transformation of agricultural landscapes and communities.
Working at Babban Gona has been transformative, allowing me to build a legacy of impact, my way. Every day, I witness the tangible impact of our work on the lives of farmers and their communities as we pave the way for economic empowerment and social upliftment. Visiting our our operations in Northern Nigeria I am able to connect with the communities that we are impacting directly and meet farmers like Grace. Grace was unfortunately made a widow very young in her life, alone with four young children, struggling to make ends meet. Incredibly, when she received her first payment as a Babban Gona farmer, with more money than she had ever held in her hand at one time, her first action was to use that money to pay it forward, by adopting another child. This is the legacy, Babban Gona allows you to create.
We are also working to promote financial inclusion amongst our farmers in a bid to assist them become more independent and sustainable. This involves us assisting them register legal entities, setting up bank accounts and tax verification so that they will be able to access financing directly from the formal lending system. But our journey doesn’t end here. Our mission at Babban Gona is to support 50 million farmers like Grace by 2043, and to do this, we need your help. If you share our passion for making a difference and are interested in contributing to our cause, I encourage you to explore opportunities to work with us.
To express your interest in joining Babban Gona and contributing to our impactful work, please send your CV to [email protected]. Together, let’s build a legacy of impact, your way.
