Babban Gona
TypeSocial enterprise
IndustryAgriculture
Founded2012
FounderKola Masha, Lola Masha
HeadquartersNigeria
Websitewww.babbangona.com

Babban Gona, which means "Great Farm" in the Hausa language, is a social enterprise organization that provides support for smallholder farmers in Nigeria to become more profitable.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Babban Gona is partly owned by the farmers it serves.[7][8]

History

Babban Gona was founded in 2012 by Kola Masha with the aim of promoting agriculture and reducing unemployment in Nigeria.[1][9] Kola temporarily relocated to a small village in the Northern part of Nigeria, which had been recently impacted by insurgent activities.[9]

At inception, Babban Gona started and provide support for 100 members in Kaduna State, Nigeria.[10] Babban Gona currently has its operations in 15 states namely Abuja, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Plateau and Jigawa states.[11] The company has provided support for over 110,000 smallholder farmers since its inception.[12][13]

In April 2017, Babban Gona became the first Social Enterprise to win Skoll Foundation Awards.[14][15][16] In 2017, Babban Gona received a $2.5m investment from the Global Innovation Fund.[17]

How It Works

Babban Gona four key services to drive success for smallholder farmers:[6][18]

  1. Training and Education
  2. Financial Credit
  3. Agricultural Input
  4. Harvesting & Marketing Support

Babban Gona provides support for smallholder farmers through what the company calls "Trust Groups", grassroots level farmer cooperatives.[19] A group of 3-5 smallholder farmer members,[7][20] with a trust group leader assigned to each group, who is selected after passing agronomic knowledge test and oral leadership interview.[20] After a trust group is established, members of each trust group are trained on the following - agronomy, financial literacy, business skills and leadership through the BG Farm university platform.[21] Babban Gona members have a loan repayment rate estimated to be at about 98%.[20] Other trust group members are responsible for repaying if a trust group member defaults.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Aisha Salaudeen. "This agricultural enterprise is helping Nigerian farmers expand their business". CNN.
  2. ↑ "Agriculture: Farming revolution has yet to take off". November 27, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Insight: Nigeria seeks farming revival to break oil curse". July 4, 2013 – via www.reuters.com.
  4. ↑ "Innovators Creating Prosperity: Babban Gona". Christensen Institute. March 30, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Scale Up Sourcebook" (PDF). Purdue University, African Development Bank Group. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Companies to Inspire Africa 2019" (PDF). London Stock Exchange Group. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Partnership Aims to Create 560,000 Work Opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs and Smallholder Farmers". Mastercard Foundation. May 1, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Outgrower Programmes and Fortunes of Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria: Role of financial institutions". Premium Times. May 31, 2021.
  9. 1 2 Foote, Willy. "Meet The Nigerian Entrepreneur Depriving Boko Haram Of New Recruits". Forbes.
  10. ↑ "AGRA, Babban Gona transforming smallholder farming". Vanguard News. January 14, 2016.
  11. ↑ "NSIA Invests in Smallholder Framers through Babban Gona Franchise Model" (PDF). Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  12. ↑ "'Our commitment to reduce unemployment through agriculture is real'". April 18, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Babban Gona to provide jobs for youths in agriculture". April 19, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Skoll | Skoll Awardee Kola Masha of Babban Gona on His One Regret".
  15. ↑ "Kola Masha's Babban Gona bags the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship! | Hello Tractor".
  16. ↑ "And a Skoll Award goes to...Babban Gona, for boosting incomes of Nigerian farmers". ImpactAlpha. March 31, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Babban Gona". Global Innovation Fund. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  18. ↑ "OUR MODEL".
  19. ↑ "560,000 youths to secure jobs through Babban Gona MasterCard Foundation partnership". May 18, 2021.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Angara UA, Ahmed B, Ojeleye OA, Ismaila HA, Baba D (2020). "Assessment of Stakeholders' Compliance to Contract Terms under Babban Gona Rice Scheme in Kano State, Nigeria". Nigerian Journal of Agricultural Extension. 21 (4): 73–78. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.26992.38403.
  21. ↑ "Agriculture: Nigeria's job creation engine – Private Sector & Development".
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