Leading agribusiness in food, feed and fibre, Olam Agri has partnered with Nanyang Technological University, a leading global research college in Singapore to strengthen Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

Olam disclosed this in a statement. According to the company, the agribusiness sponsored the recently-concluded Singapore Business Case Competition X African Challenge 2023 organised by the institution to craft innovative, sustainable strategies targeted at raising the resilience level of the local food value chain.

‘‘The Singapore Business Case Competition is an innovative competition that is centred on Africa. It featured 34 teams comprising 135 undergraduates from over 11 universities which made presentations on climate-smart strategies to Olam Agri with a focus on how to improve Nigeria’s agriculture sector, tackle climate threats, and address the topographic and systemic challenges impeding the achievement of food security. The contest was launched on February 25th, 2023, and concluded with team TPG Consulting emerging as the overall winner on March 11,’’ the statement read.

Speaking on the contest, the Country Head for Olam Agri Nigeria, Ashish Pande, said, “We are glad to have allowed the smart, young minds to come up with idea case studies that are capable of improving the resilience of our food supply chain. Especially, the ideas represent a huge lever for unlocking the potential of the aqua and poultry segments, and raising protein consumption on the continent.

Co-founder of EnerScale, Saki Kobayashi, who served as a judge at the contest, was captivated by the impressive performance of the contestants. She said, “The participating teams demonstrated outstanding performance during the SBCC X AC 2023. I was especially impressed to see their use of technology and creativity to solve crucial challenges in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.”

In the same vein, Amit Jain, the Director of NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies, explained, “The participants at this year’s SBCC contest had the opportunity to test their knowledge, analytical thinking, and communication skills by solving real-life business problems. The teams presented climate-smart solutions targeted at solving agricultural challenges in Nigeria.”