The Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA), has announced the top 15 finalists for the 2022 edition and five Nigerian agripreneurs made the list.
The five Nigerians are; Janefrances Nkiruka Ighosewe, founder and CEO, Something Lite Greek Yogurt; Oluwaseun Sangoleye, mum in chief and CEO, Baby Grubz; Precious Awesome, CEO of Awesome God Agro Allied Industries Limited; Ogola Lois Kange, CEO of Smiley’z Mobile Kitchen Limited and Oluyemisi Iranloye, managing director, Psaltry International.
The 15 outstanding women agripreneurs were selected by a panel of independent judges under three categories; Outstanding Value-adding Enterprise, Female Ag Tech Innovator, and Young Female Agripreneur (Rising Star).
“Given the undeniable contribution of women to African agriculture and rural economies, a female-focused award scheme is an important way to showcase success – AGRA remains steadfast in its efforts to promote and support women’s agripreneurship in Africa,” said Vanessa Adams, strategic partnerships & chief of party at AGRA in a statement made available to BusinessDay.
Read also: Health benefits of parboiled rice
The selected top applicants are from nine African countries: Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The applicants were selected from a total of 1,478 applicants from 38 African countries.
The winners will be announced during the AGRF Summit at the first ladies’ special event on 7th September 2022. The event will be presided over by attending first ladies from across Africa. The awards ceremony will take place physically at the Kigali Convention Center, Kigali, Rwanda.
The theme of the session is: ‘Increasing Access to Healthy Diets in the AU Year of Nutrition’. The ultimate winners will each receive a cash prize of $20, 000.
WAYA is an AGRA-led recognition scheme that was launched and implemented in 2021, with very promising prospects for reaching and recognizing more women agribusiness leaders in subsequent years. The awards seek to spotlight excelling female agribusiness leaders and promote them as positive role models.
