By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A summit with the aim to discuss the role of technology and digitisation across the agricultural value chain is to be organised by Ecobank Nigeria.
The programme tagged Ecobank Agribusiness and Food Security Summit is in partnership with Vanguard Economic Forum Series and it is in its second edition.
The Head of Agribusiness at Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Mojisola Oguntoyinbo, disclosed that the event is part of the bank’s determination to further showcase the potentials in the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy in partnership with Vanguard Newspapers, the Economic Forum Series and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).
According to her, the programme is also part of the bank’s continuous contribution to the growth and development of the agriculture sector, stating that a pool of notable thought leaders and industry experts have been assembled to address how technology can aid the entire agriculture value chain to bring about economic development and food sufficiency in the country.
“This virtual conference is part of Ecobank Digital Series which is in line with our vision to consolidate a modern pan-African market, contribute to the economic development and financial integration of the continent.
“The summit would amongst other things examine the potential impact of agriculture technology investment in fixing low productivity in Nigeria’s food production; 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,” Mrs Mojisola Oguntoyinbo explained.
She noted that the Agribusiness Summit would help Ecobank communicate and connect with Nigeria’s entrepreneurs in the agricultural value chain, farmers and other investors, adding that the bank will also showcase its strength in the digital banking space such as its innovative digital payment channels like the OmniPlus, Omnilite and digital sales collections channels like Ecobankpay NQR amongst other financial service offerings to close the large financial Inclusion gap and a direct response to mitigating the economic challenge post-COVID-19.
On his part, the Director of Vanguard Conferences and The Economic Forum Series, Mr Jude Ndu, said: “We are indeed pleased and delighted with the ongoing high-level strategic partnership with Ecobank Nigeria in the area of concept development, synthesis, design and execution of high profile thematic bespoke events.
“The upcoming conference speaks to the strong sense of confidence the bank has in us to help curate thought leadership content and context for the brand in line with its marketing objectives.
“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 food insecurity in the country.”
Business Post reports that the strategic partners to Ecobank on the summit are the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME).
Others include the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).
The speakers and panellists are carefully drawn from government, development finance institutions, banking, trade associations, civil society, non-governmental organisations and subject matter experts in technology and agriculture.
It was learned that confirmed speakers include Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director-General, Partnership for Delivery, IITA; Aliyu Abdulhameed, MD/CEO, NIRSAL; Dr. Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President, NABG; Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-founder/Managing Partner, Sahel Partner; Akin Alabi, Co-founder, Corporate Farmers International; Ayodeji Balogun, Country CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange and Patrick Akinwuntan, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, among others.
Intending participants are expected to register ahead of the event slated for June 3, 2021, by 11am prompt via cutt.ly/ecobankagribusiness. The event will be broadcast and streamed live via zoom and across vanguard newspapers and Ecobank social media channel platforms.
Adedapo Adesanya