AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) has announced on March 28 the appointment of six new members to its Board, bolstering the organisation even further to accomplish its mission as it prepares a strategy that is focused on advancing the 2030 agenda in Africa.
The appointments, effective immediately, are meant to strengthen AGRA’s role as an African institution that is committed to advancing inclusive agriculture and food systems transformation.
AGRA is an alliance led by Africans with roots in farming communities across the continent. Since 2006, the organization have worked with partners across Africa to deliver a set of proven solutions to smallholder farmers and thousands of indigenous African agriculture enterprises. The alliance has built the systems and tools for Africa’s agriculture; high quality seeds, better soil health, access to markets and credit, and coupled by stronger farmer organizations and agriculture policies.
Strategic guidance
Composed of 15 members, AGRA’s Board bears the overarching responsibility to its stakeholders, employees and the public good. It provides strategic guidance to the organisation, maintains independent oversight of activities and ensures effective governance at all levels.
Commenting on the appointments, AGRA’s Board Chair, H.E Hailemariam Dessalegn said: “I am delighted to welcome six new independent members to the Board. Each member’s unique expertise and track record in driving value will be critical for AGRA as we head towards our 2030 strategic period where we want to accelerate agricultural and food system transformation in Africa particularly, the local SMES, the smallholder farmers and the communities they serve. I look forward to working with them”.
Ada Osakwe
Ada Osakwe is the Founder and Chief Executive of Agrolay Ventures, an investment firm targeting early-stage agribusiness and food-related companies and projects in Africa. She is also the founder of Nuli Juice, a farm-to-table restaurant chain in Nigeria that works to create markets for smallholder farmers.
Ada Osakwe was the Senior Investment Adviser to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and led investment policy and financing initiatives focused on the private sector. Prior to this, she was a Vice President at Kuramo Capital Management, a private equity firm in New York. She was also a Senior Investment Officer at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), focused on infrastructure financing. She started her career as an investment banker with BNP Paribas London.
Ada Osakwe received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. She holds an MSc in Economics and Finance from the University of Warwick, U.K. and a BSc in Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Hull, U.K. Ada is a 2016 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow.
Ada Osakwe serves on the Boards of private equity fund, Factor [e] ventures, the global agriculture non-profit, One Acre Fund and the leading plant-based food distributor in Africa, Infinite Foods. She is a member of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Presidential Youth Advisory Group and serves on the Advisory Group of Generation Africa, an initiative to invest in young African agripreneurs co-catalysed by Econet and Yara International. She is the interim Chief Operating Officer of the World Hunger Fighter’s Foundation (WHFF), a non-profit, founded by Dr. Akin Adesina, to invest in young food innovators for a hunger-free world.
According to AGRA, her career in private equity and investments and experience working in government, as Founder and CEO of Agrolay Ventures and as Founder of Nuli Juice brings invaluable insights to the Board from the perspective of a female African entrepreneur in the agricultural value chain. “This is exciting for AGRA as we push for systemic interventions that result in transformation in our countries. Her role as Generation Africa Ambassador and on the AfDB’s President’s Advisory Group on ‘Jobs for Africa’s Youth’ makes her greatly placed to effectively contribute and provide learnings on how AGRA can continuously make agriculture a viable economic enterprise for our youth”.
Binta Touré Ndoye
Binta Touré Ndoye was CEO of the Oragroup banking group, after being recruited as the group’s deputy CEO in 2015. She spent the first part of her career with the Ecobank Group. She was notably Managing Director of Ecobank Togo; Managing Director of Ecobank Mali and Ecobank Group Head of Strategic Projects . A Malian national, Binta Touré Ndoye holds an MBA in Finance and International and Development Economics from the University of Central Oklahoma, USA.
According to AGRA, Her distinguished banking career in one of AGRA’s focus countries and her great work as CEO of Oragroup Bank will give AGRA an opportunity to lean on for critical learnings. “As CEO of Oragroup, she steered the bank’s growth of SMEs through digitalization. This presents a fantastic learning opportunity for AGRA as we are keen to double down on digitization and private sector partnerships in pushing our mission for agricultural transformation on the continent”.
Delphine Maidou
Since November 1, 2021, Delphine Maidou Traoré is the CEO of Allianz in Africa. Long before, she was the Chief Operating Officer of Allianz Africa, responsible for the development of Allianz’s activities on the African continent. In this capacity, in May 2018, she piloted Allianz’s 2nd largest transaction in Africa: the acquisition of 8% of the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), owned by 41 African states and more than 100 African insurers.
Delphine Traoré joined the Allianz group in 2005 in Canada, holding several positions. She joined Allianz Africa in 2017. A non-executive member of the Board of Directors of AGCS Africa, Delphine Traoré was the president of the African insurance organization.
According to AGRA, her distinguished career as a global leader with expertise in strategy and risk management and serving on the Board of Allianz, makes her an invaluable resource the organization will lean on for guidance. “With the ever-present threat of climate change, AGRA is keen to get climate adaptation and resilience right in our new Strategy and we believe her insights will help us de-risk these areas for our farmers and exponentially increase the farmers’ yields and livelihoods”.