Leading experts and thought leaders in the agricultural and financial sectors have been billed to discuss how to unlock productivity and investment opportunities at the maiden edition of Ecobank Agribusiness Summit.
The Head of Agribusiness at Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs. Mojisola Oguntoyinbo, disclosed this in Lagos, saying the summit is part of the bank’s continuous contribution to the growth and development of the agriculture sector of the nation’s economy.
The summit, themed: “Unlocking productivity and investment opportunities across the Agribusiness value chain,” is holding by February 13, 2020 at the Civic Centre, in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Notable speakers expected at the summit include the minister of Agriculture & Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, who is the special Guest of Honour and Dr Andrew S. Nevin, Chief Economist and Partner, (Financial Services Sector) PwC as Keynote Speaker.
Other speakers and Panelists expected are Patrick Akinwuntan, MD/CEO Ecobank Nigeria; Abdulhameed Aliyu, MD/CEO NIRSAL; Mr Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG); and Ayodeji Balogun, Country CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange, amongst others.
“This maiden edition of the Ecobank Agribusiness Summit is to stimulate discussions, examine critically the opportunities with the intent of unlocking the growth potentials in the entire value chain of the agric sector.
“The full day event will include keynote speakers, panel discussion sessions and exhibition of Agro and Agro-allied products where marketplace experience will be created for buyers and sellers to interact and make sales.
“Between 400 to 450 companies, regulators and other stakeholders in Agric-business are expected to attend and participate at the event. This will create opportunity for networking among the industry players,” she said.
Mrs Oguntoyinbo further noted that the summit, to be held in partnership with Vanguard newspapers, the Economic Forum Series and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), would amongst other things examine the potential impact of agriculture technology investment in fixing low productivity in Nigeria’s food production.
It would also look into how government policy, laws and regulatory framework can drive effective public-private partnership; evaluate existing traditional agriculture finance models in Nigeria and the role and impact of technology-enabled commodity exchange trading across the agriculture value chain, and the role of developmental partners and international agencies in driving funding and investments across the agriculture value chain.
Also commenting on the summit, Jude Ndu, the Co-Founder, the Economic Forum Series and Director, Vanguard Conferences said “we are delighted to be partnering with Ecobank Nigeria on the conceptualisation, strategy and execution of this high profile event in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) agriculture policy and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the federal government.
“As a media organisation, this is our own way of contributing to the growth prospect of the sector through audience engagement by bringing together critical stakeholders to discuss solutions to the issues of low productivity and investment opportunities across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain,” he added.
It will be recalled that Ecobank Nigeria had also announced an Agriculture Businesses Finance Scheme where it plans to disburse additional loan of N70 billion for practitioners in different value chains of Agriculture within the next two years.
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