Dave Van Bulck takes over as Ringardas Nigeria MD
WITH A VIEW TO CREATING MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES AND INCREASING FOOD PRODUCTION through mechanised and sciHQWLåF IDUPLQJ DQG SURFHVVLQJ an agricultural firm, Ezelukwu Ventures Nigeria Limited, has opened its doors for both local and foreign investors for partnership.
Ezelukwu Ventures, which is registered to carry out operations in agriculture, especially in integrated farming, among other areas, said it is open for discussion ZLWK LQWHUHVWHG åQDQFLDO LQYHVtors and seeks to have professionals in related areas of integrated farming technology.
Austin Nnodim, managing GLUHFWRU FKLHI H[HFXWLYH RIåFHU Ezelukwu Ventures, said the åUP KDV DOUHDG\ HQWHUHG LQWR D working agreement with land owners and some communities, including states and local governments in the South East that have donated lands for agriculture. He stated that so far, approximately 21,000 hectares of land have been acquired that DUH YHULåDEOH LQ YDULRXV VWDWHV of the South East for agro-based ventures.
Nnodim said the company is desirous to have investors that could supply various types of agricultural equipment for mechanised farming, and also QHHGV åQDQFLDO LQYHVWRUV LQ WKH partnership arrangement.
Ezelukwu Ventures Nigeria Limited, he said, is enthusiastic to have other corporate bodies and institutions on board to achieve the set objective of making Imo State in particular and South East at large the hub of food production and industrial raw materials for local consumption and export.
1QRGLP VDLG WKH åUP LV YHUVHG in consultancy and has consulted for Imo State Ministries of Petroleum and Environment and Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as House Committee on Oil and Gas, ISOPADEC, NDDC, and Imo State House of Assembly.
Currently, Ezelukwu Ventures is partnering with NIRSAL Plc of CBN to deliver on Cluster Cooperative Farming for local farmers. It is also working in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Imo State Agricultural Development Project (ADP), and Imo State Investment Promotion Agency (ISIPA) to deliver on the project of LQWHJUDWHG PHFKDQL]HG VFLHQWLåF mandate farming and processing, which will employ about 600 IDUPHUV LQ WKH åUVW \HDU DQG LQ WKH VHFRQG \HDU WKH åUVW RI LWV kind in Imo State and South East in general. The ground breaking ceremony of this project is expected to take place this month, he said.
Nnodim said application is open for interested persons who want to register as Cooperative Cluster Farmers, adding that they would be allocated land space for farming and loan guarantee by Ezelukwu Ventures Nigeria Ltd courtesy of NIRSAL.
Mandate farmers who are interested in investing in agriculture through (proxy) farming are also at liberty to apply for application forms, Nnodim said.
DAVE VAN BULCK HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE NEW EXECUTIVE MANAGING director of Ringardas Nigeria Limited, also known as ASCA, the pioneer bitumen distribution company in Nigeria.
He takes over from Philippe Goron, the outgoing managing director, according to a statement issued by management of the company in Abuja.
Bulck, who holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering - Energy Optimization and a Master’s in Engineering from University of
Gent, Belgium, brings a wealth of experience gained from working across several organisations in the oil & gas downstream business, especially in bitumen and PMB, having led the development of new bitumen terminals in Algeria and the Middle East.
The new Ringardas MD started RXW DV D åHOG DQG SURMHFW HQJLQHHU at Total in June 2004 in Brussels and has progressively held responsible roles in his career.
In 2008, he joined Total Africa and the Middle East department in Paris headquarters to manage new logistic project developments. After three years he was assigned as operations manager at Total Zimbabwe, according to facts made available to Business A.M.
In 2014, Bulck was appointed the operations and technical manager for SEP CONGO, a JointVenture operated by Total, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He left Total in 2018 to join FTL Pipeline SA, still in Kinshasa DRC, DV WKH FKLHI RSHUDWLQJ RIåFHU
Three years later, he joined VTTI Antwerp as the strategy & transition manager. For the past year, he was involved in the cloVXUH RI WKH 977, ELWXPHQ UHåQHU\ From there he was selected by Rubis Energie to take the responsibility of managing director for Ringardas Nigeria Limited in October 2022.