Innovations Session N°5

Aggrey Agumya is the Director for Research and Innovation-designate for the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) since 1 September 2020. He joined FARA in in 2006 as the Programme Officer for the Sub-Saharan African Africa Challenge Programme. In 2008 he was appointed to serve as the Technical Advisor to the Executive Director, before being appointed in 2016 as the Director in charge of Stakeholder Engagement and Communications.
Aggrey Agumya actively takes part to the consultation with all stakeholders in food systems as part of the drafting of the continental manifesto on forgotten and underutilized foods which will be presented at the UN Food Systems Summit later in 2021. During the second quarter of 2021 FARA coordinated consultations championed by GFAR that led to the elaboration of a manifesto on forgotten foods in Africa. Aggrey Agumya considers that Africa has vast potential to feed its population, among others by making use of forgotten foods as they are nutrient dense, resilient and well-adapted to the local growing conditions.

David is the founder and CEO of Agromyx Company and has been working in the food industry for the  past 15 years. He specializes in food & beverage management, research & development, big-picture operations and supply chain management and contract negotiation between food companies and contract manufacturers, as well as forecasting and production planning, strategic sourcing, lean manufacturing and streamlining supply chains to maximize profits.
David’s main objective is to contribute immensely to the food system with focus on healthy diet so that he founded, in 2017, the AGROMYX, an agro-food manufacturer and distributor of natural, healthy and sugar free food products.
David studied business administration and management at the Ashley’s business college Accra, Ghana and holds a Bachelor’s degree in hospitality administration and management.

Fatma has been working with farmers’ organisations for more than 20 years. She began her involvement in land and legal affairs with farmers and their grassroots organisations. Subsequently, she held the administrative and financial management, and later the international cooperation and the partnership management at the Tunisian National Farmers Organization. She has been Director of the North African Farmers’ Network (UMNAGRI). Fatma holds a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Political Science, a Masters in Juridical Sciences and a Certificate of Specialised Studies in Political and International Studies. She is fluent in Arabic, French, English, Italian and basic knowledge in Spanish.

Isolina is the Head of Networks and Alliances at COLEAD, a non-profit Association of private sector operators in the agrifood sector active in the EU, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) regions. Isolina has more than 25 years of experience in agricultural development. She started her career with the European Commission and has also worked with various ACP embassies and NGOs in areas related to food security, rural development and trade. Before joining COLEAD, she was the Manager of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) Brussels Office (2004-2020) implementing policy initiatives related to the ACP-EU cooperation in the field of agricultural and rural development. She has led agribusiness projects in support of capacity development of SMEs, entrepreneurs and farmers organisations across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Lawrence Haddad is GAIN’s Executive Director since 2016. He also chairs Action Track 1 of the UN Food Systems Summit to ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all since 2020, and is the co-convener of the Standing Together for Nutrition. Prior to GAIN, Lawrence Haddad was the founding co-chair and lead author of the Global Nutrition Report from 2014 to 2016, the Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) from 2004 to 2014, and the Director of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 1994 to 2004.
From 2009 to 2010, Lawrence Haddad was the UK representative on the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CSF). From 2010 to 2012, he was the President of the UK and Ireland’s Development Studies Association. As an economist, Lawrence completed his PhD in Food Research at Stanford University in 1988.
Lawrence Haddad and David Nabarro were awarded the 2018 World Food Prize for their engagement in bringing maternal and child nutrition to the forefront of the global food security agenda.

Courage is the Financial Manager of Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited and a finance and business development strategist with experience in business planning and budgeting, financial analysis, and business credit analysis. He worked in the Audit and Advisory units of KPMG Ghana before joining Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited. He has about 10 years of experience covering Audit and Assurance, Consulting, Construction, Agriculture, and Manufacturing industries.
Courage is Certified in Quantitative Risk Management (CQRM) and a Chartered Accountant by profession with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG). He also holds both Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in Accounting and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Administration with a major in Accounting from the University of Ghana Business School. He further received extensive training in financial strategy, and is versatile with issues of payroll accounting, costing, management accounting, taxation, audit, financial management, and reporting.

Jolenta Joseph is a young nutritionist, food entrepreneur and agri-food processing trainer in Tanzania. She has made remarkable progress in the country’s fight against hunger through innovative uses of local crops both with her company Sanavita which adds value to crops such as orange fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP), beans and maize; as well as a nutritionist at the SOKOINE University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative (SUGECO). She was part of the SUGECO team of the Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) project (2016 – 2018) led by the International Potato Centre (CIP) which focused mainly on how to use OFSP purée to make different bakery products and achieved excellent results, for example reducing production costs by 45%.
Jolenta has won two international awards, the 2020 Sun Pitch Competition Food Technology Innovation Prize given by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and the mentorship prize granted by AGREA, a social enterprise working on sustainable farming and based in the Philippines. She also won the 2018 “Malkia wa Nguvu” prize in the Agribusiness category which awards visionary women who inspire and build opportunities for their families and communities.

Jeremy holds a Master’s degree in Business Engineering from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM). Prior to joining COLEAD in 2009, he was involved in Guatemala with the daily operations of a farmers’ cooperative exporting loquats to the EU and the US. He started to work for COLEAD as an expert in charge of matters related to private standards and certification for ACP producers and exporters of fruit and vegetables. Jeremy is an accredited coach for leadership and professional development. He has been appointed as General Delegate of COLEAD in June 2019.

Marie Ange is the Founder and Managing Director of Zima Enterprise, a company which adds value to pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with honours in International Economics and attended seminars in the area of business management provided by BPN Rwanda, as well as Rwanda Youth Industrial Training in Kenya and a training course on processing and preservation technology of agricultural products in China. Marie Ange has also been certified in different modules and online courses provided by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs, Acumen and the IKEA social entrepreneurship.
Marie Ange has been awarded as the best youth innovator by Rwanda Youth Connect in 20217, by the Bank of Kigali in 2021, and received different recognitions from business partners of Zima enterprise.

Seun is an experienced nutrition educator, international speaker and multiple award winning entrepreneur. She is a manufacturer of packaged infant meals and snacks made from grains, fruit and vegetables called Baby Grubz Nigeria®, an innovative social enterprise based in Lagos, Nigeria, with operations in Ghana, Togo and the United Kingdom. Seun has published eBooks and articles on child nutrition and provides online mentoring to over 350,000 Nigerian mothers across the company’s social media platforms.
Seun holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Lagos State University, Nigeria; Programming for infant and young child feeding at Cornell NutritionWorks in conjunction with UNICEF and Business and Entrepreneurship Training from Clark Atlanta University, Georgia, USA.
She enjoys gardening and DIY projects and constantly seeks opportunities to empower women everywhere.