Lagos injects N150m into youth food solutions
Lagos State is betting on its youth to solve Nigeria’s food crisis and has injected a N150 million fund to empower agripreneurs with innovative solutions across the food system.
Abisola Olusanya, commissioner of Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, at the Lagos Agrithon Grand Finale pitch competition on Thursday, said the state is supporting a pool of young agripreneurs who are driving innovation in the agri and food space to scale their businesses.
Olusanya added that the state is also building an ecosystem of like-minded people that speak one language.
“We want to give them the kind of support that will scale and transcend their businesses to the next level,” she said.
“But more importantly, it’s about creating an ecosystem of like-minded people where the connection, partnership, and synergy, we can bring it to the fore and help businesses scale better that way,” she added.
She said the state has recorded massive success in this direction and has built a community of strong advocates helping to propagate to the younger generation – those in the university, secondary and primary schools, that there is a future and pathway in the agri and food system space.
“We have people here who are now mentors for our Lagos Agripreneurship Programme Lab. We have mentors now for our Lagos Agric Scholars Programme,” she noted
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“And so many other things that we’re doing as a collective that is surely showcasing that indeed, when there’s a communal synergy, when there’s that communal value, then we can go higher and scale faster,” the commissioner explained.
“So, we’ve seen many businesses now come together, partner and do bigger and better things. (2:01) We’ve seen businesses scale rapidly. (2:03) We’ve seen those connections and we know that we’re on the right path,” she added.
Olusanya said that the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration sees Agrithon as an initiative that will create billionaires, enterprise shakers, and people who can change the entire food industry.
Speaking about the 2025 Agrithon entries, she said the call-up received over 1,000 submissions and the first pitch session was conducted, noting that the businesses also undertook written examinations, oral interviews and mentorship programmes.
The selection committee also visited the farms and businesses to verify that they existed before selecting 32 entrepreneurs for the grand final pitch.
She noted that the 32 agripreneurs represent various states across the country and will all be supported from the over N150 million grant to scale their businesses.
“We have people from all over Nigeria. It’s not only people residing in Lagos. We have people from diverse cultures represented here at the Lagos Agrithon,” the commissioner said.
“And the reason for it is that we believe that even if you don’t have a farm or your business is not located in Lagos, we believe that the majority of your customer base is still in Lagos.
Whatever solution it is you’re driving at, at least a minimum of 60 percent of your customer base is in Lagos. So, we see that as we are here for everybody,” she explained.
