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

By

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:


Featured on: Face2Face Africa

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

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

View Fullscreen
Skip to PDF content
View Fullscreen
Skip to PDF content
View Fullscreen
Skip to PDF content

Frank Altman

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.

Michael Jainzik

Independent Non-Executive Director

Michael Jainzik works as an independent consultant and brings his extensive expertise in the areas of agricultural finance, international investments, risk management and corporate governance. He is currently based in Rome, Italy.
 
From 2001 to 2011, Michael worked as an investment professional at KfW Development Bank, focusing on international debt financing and equity investments in investment funds and banking institutions, mainly in the areas of agricultural finance and microfinance. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as Director of KfW’s office in Windhoek. In this role, he helped manage and develop KfW’s EUR 250 million portfolio in Namibia. From 2015 to 2017, he took on the position of Head of Corporate Development at Access Microfinance Holding, where he was responsible for structuring and leading a merger process between Access Holding and another company.
 
Prior to joining Babban Gona, Michael 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 studied economics and management at the Universities of Lüneburg and Witten/Herdecke (Germany) and at ETEA – Universidad Loyola in Córdoba (Spain) and holds a Master’s degree in economics and management.

Alhaji Bello Maccido

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.

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

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.

Kola Masha

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.

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.