Kola Masha, the Nigerian entrepreneur drying up support for Boko Haram

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Kola Masha, the Nigerian entrepreneur drying up support for Boko Haram

Kola Masha is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and the founder of Babban Gona. He founded his firm in 2010 to bring jobs and stability to his home country. Worldwide, Nigeria is ranked among countries with high-security vulnerabilities.

The north of Nigeria is the hotbed of terrorist activities owing to the operation of Boko Haram and other bandits. Also, the Niger Delta area is another hotbed for homegrown insurgents. There are various reports about how economic factors drive disaffected people into radical groups.

Although religion is the major underlining factor in the operations of Boko Haram, economic factors cannot be downplayed. For Masha, the only way to make Nigeria secure again is to cut off the oxygen to radical groups: no jobs, no wages, and inability to feed one’s family.

After his studies at MIT and Harvard and working in leadership positions with top organizations, Masha decided to return to Nigeria in 2007 and contribute his quota to the development of Nigeria. He moved to a small town in Northern Nigeria that has experienced insurgencies and bombings to unlock the power of agriculture in addressing unemployment.

“Due to high demand for labor and low skill requirements, farming has the potential to create jobs and draw millions of young people into the sector,” Masha told Forbes.

Inspired by his U.S. grandfather, a small farm holder who was able to get out of poverty in South Dakota through the power of cooperatives, Masha established a similar model called Babban Gona, which means “Great Farm” in Hausa.

Babban Gona is dedicated to empowering small farm holders to transition from subsistence farming to commercial farming. Masha accomplished this by franchising thousands of farmer cooperatives across Northern Nigeria. “We deliver an integrated package of agronomic and financial training, farm inputs, and marketing services on credit to each cooperative, enabling its members to increase the productivity and profitability of their farm enterprise,” Masha said.

The company also disburses long-term loans to small farmers. Since the firm started operating, thousands of farmers have doubled their yields and tripled their incomes, thereby improving their livelihoods and that of their families.

“They can send more children to school, access improved nutrition especially for children and babies, afford mothers the funds to give birth in a hospital, and purchase home solar systems to ensure reliable clean power,” Masha said.

“In terms of education, a Babban Gona survey in 2016 showed that 90 percent of members were utilizing their increased net income to invest in their children’s education, by either sending more children to school or moving their children to a higher quality school,” he added.

Families who hitherto did not have electricity have leveraged their increased financial power to buy solar systems while others have opened shops to generate extra income, said Masha.

According to him, half of Babban Gona’s members are youths, who are making legitimate money through farming. Some of the youths were once members of insurgent groups. One such person is Saminu, who was once a rebel and is now making legitimate money after joining Babban Gona.

“We want to create a world where millions of hard-working young people like Saminu have options other than a life of crime and terror,” Masha said. “Given the opportunity, I know that these driven and ambitious young men will make the right choice. They just need to be given a choice,” said the social entrepreneur and recipient of a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

The following video has more:


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2 thoughts on “Kola Masha, the Nigerian entrepreneur drying up support for Boko Haram”

  1. StepheN nyeme Samuel

    I love the mindset of this grate man Mr kola masha I’ll love to help be a good and diligent worker in the organisation

    Reply
  2. Hamza magaji

    Yes I witnessed that why because IAM working indeed babba gonna for a good three years, and got good development.
    Thank you babban gona

    Reply

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Frank Altman

Board Director

Frank Altman is the founder and first CEO of Community Reinvestment Fund, USA. As CRF’s founder, Altman pioneered the development of a secondary market for community and economic development loans. Since 1988, under Altman’s leadership and in partnership with a network of more than 200 local community partners, CRF has funded more than $3.5 billion in loans to job-creating small businesses, non-profits, charter schools and affordable housing projects in 50 states plus the District of Columbia and more than 1,000 communities across the United States.
 
Altman helped design the creation of the federal New Markets Tax Credit to encourage private investment in low-income communities and is a founding member and first President of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition. He is also a member of the Center for Community Development Investors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and an advisor to the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University and the Center for Impact Finance at the University of New Hampshire. His work has been featured in Inc. Magazine, where he was named one of its Entrepreneurs of the Year, and he received Fast Company’s Social Capitalist award.
 
Altman has been awarded the Economic Development Innovation Award from GIS Planning Inc. and fDi Intelligence for his contribution to the field of economic development. Altman is a Senior Fellow at Ashoka, the world-wide network of social entrepreneurs and a founding member of Kindred.
 
More recently, in September 2023, Altman authored a book published by Forbes and titled “A New Capitalism: Creating A Just Economy That Works For All.”It is available in physical and online book stores and on Audible.

Michael Jainzik

Board Director

 

Michael Jainzik is a Principal Sector Economist in KfW Development Bank. From 2001 to 2011 his work focused on investing and managing equity participation in investment funds and banking institutions, and in agricultural finance and microfinance. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as Director of KfW’s office in Windhoek. In this role he helped to manage and develop KfW’s EUR 250 million portfolio in Namibia. From 2015 to 2017 he assumed the position of Head of Corporate Development in Access Microfinance Holding where he was responsible for structuring and managing a merger process between Access Holding and another corporation.

Prior to his role in Babban Gona, Michael has served as a non-executive director in Access Bank Azerbaijan (2006-2011, Chairman), Belarusian Bank for Small Business (2008-2011), Rural Impulse Fund II Luxemburg (2010-2011) and AB Bank Zambia (2011-2016).

Michael has studied Economics and Management at the Universities of Lüneburg and Witten/Herdecke (Germany) and ETEA – Universidad Loyola in Córdoba (Spain) and holds a Master Degree in Economics and Management.

Bello Maccido

Board Member

 Mr. Maccido is an accomplished Corporate and Investment banker with over 31 years post graduate experience. He had at different times served on the Boards of FBN Holdings Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Legacy Pension Manager Limited and is currently the Chairman, FBN Merchant Bank Ltd. Mr. Maccido is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. Mr. Maccido holds a Law Degree (LL.B) and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA respectively. He is a Barrister at Law (BL) of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and an Alumnus of the Executive Business Programs of the Harvard Business School and the IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Muhammad Sanusi, CON

Chairman of the Board

His Highness Muhammad Sanusi was appointed the 10th Governor and Chairman of the Board, Central Bank of Nigeria on 3 June 2009. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and also has a first-class degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University, Khartoum, Sudan.
 
From working as a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, where he taught Economics, he joined the banking industry in 1985, and by January 2009 had risen to General Manager and Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria PLC, Nigeria’s oldest and biggest bank. Mallam Sanusi has been conferred with a National Award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and has also been awarded the “Global Central Bank Governor for 2010” by The Banker Magazine, a publication of the Financial Times.
 
He was also voted Central Bank Governor of the Year for Sub-Saharan Africa 2009 (an award he won again in 2010) by Emerging Markets, a publication of Euromoney Institutional Investors. In 2011, Mr. Sanusi was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year for 2011. He was also listed by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Kola Masha (Managing Director) Prior to Babban Gona, Kola was a Managing Director and CEO of a major subsidiary in the Notore.

Lola Masha

Executive Director

 

Before joining Babban Gona, Lola was the Director for Trust and Safety at OLX Group, working across 30+ OLX markets to ensure that buyers and sellers can transact safely and securely on the platform. Prior to her global role at OLX, Lola was the Country Manager for OLX in Nigeria where she was responsible for driving all elements of the business including Business Development, Product Localization, Marketing and other relevant functions. OLX Group is one of the world’s leading online classifieds players. Through its brands including OLX, Avito, dubizzle and letgo, OLX Group is the home of online classifieds in high-growth markets.

These platforms are the leading destination for buying and selling used goods and services in 30 countries, and the #1 mobile app in its category in more than 20 markets. Globally ~ 11 million items are exchanged through its platforms every single month.

Prior to joining OLX, Lola spent 4 years at Google leading various Product Partnerships efforts across EMEA and Emerging Markets. Lola was one of the earliest Googlers in Sub-Saharan Africa when the technology company began its operations in the region.

Lola shaped the regional strategy, executed on several core initiatives and led business development efforts with key SSA partners including the telcos, OEMs, digital content providers and local entrepreneurs. Lola brings significant leadership experience in business development, entrepreneurship, operational transformation and product development across several industries including technology and financial services.

In addition to Africa, Lola has substantial international working experience in North America, Europe, and Asia. She also worked in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, where she spent time advising senior executives on extensive strategic management topics. Lola holds a Doctorate degree in Engineering from the UniversiAnnual Report 2019/2020 ty of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Virginia. She is happily married with two kids.

Kola Masha

Managing Director

 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.

Kola Masha

 

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.