iProduce Africa, with funding from Islamic Development Bank say it is commencing the training of young Nigerian owned Agri-Entrepreneurs and SMEs, on the requisite technical skills necessary to integrate them into global food value chains.

The Chief Executive Officer of iProduce Africa, Aisha Waziri-Umar, who stated this in a press statement also said the beneficiaries will be taught how to access Non-Interest funding for their export activities.

Mrs Waziri-Umar stated that Agribusiness exports present a significant opportunity for job creation to absorb the youth bulge and improve the livelihoods of young people who make up the majority of the population.

“We are forming partnerships with the relevant government ministries and agencies and I’m confident that iProduce will play a vital role in the diversification of the Nigerian economy,” she said.

The statement said the training workshop for SMEs will hold on November 20, 2021 with the theme: “Accessing Non-Interest Finance For Agribusiness Exports”.

She said experts will be engaged by iProduce to train and advise Agri-Entrepreneurs on how to take advantage of the Nigeria’s non-interest banking windows to secure financing for the export of high quality agric commodities Mrs Waziri-Umar said.

Waziri-Umar said since its launch in August 2021, iProduce Africa has trained about 500 farmers on various areas of agribusiness including livestocks, fruits and vegetables, garments, among others.

iProduce Africa is working in partnerships with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the University of West of Scotland’s Center For African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED), the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and NICERT to achieve it’s goal of engaging and providing youths with information and training on how to integrate into agribusiness and the global agro-food industry in order to boost their incomes and productivity