Unlimited potential

Afro Foods works with local farmers, providing them training and buying their farm produce, which is then processed, packaged and sold in Nigeria, other West African countries, and Europe. Besides shops and supermarkets, they are also sold on Jumia, the Lagos-based African answer to online retailer Amazon. In addition to individuals, other buyers are restaurants, hotels, wholesalers and importers.

“For me, the potential in the food industry is unlimited,” Bawa added thoughtfully. “This is because people will never stop eating.”

His assertion is backed up by figures from a 2013 World Bank report that says due to a combination of population growth, rising incomes, urbanization and international migration, Africa’s food systems, then valued at $313 billion a year, would triple by 2018. Also, almost 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated land suitable for food crops lies in Africa. In 2014, on the basis of the General Household Panel Survey conducted by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Study Group, it was estimated that Nigerians