By Awyetu Asabe
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has created over 90,000 employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Nigerian youths, women, and persons with disabilities through the Innovative Youth in Agriculture (I-Youth) project, implemented across five states.
The project, launched in 2020, targets young people aged 15–35, equipping them with technical, entrepreneurial, and business skills to start agribusinesses or secure dignified jobs along the agrifood value chain.
It was implemented in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Jigawa, and Adamawa states, with a strong focus on inclusion.
Speaking at the Phase I closeout ceremony, IITA Director-General and CGIAR Regional Director for Continental Africa, Dr Simeon Ehui, said the initiative underscores the importance of investing in youth for Africa’s future.
He noted that when young people receive skills, mentorship, and access to markets, they become job creators rather than job seekers.
Ehui attributed the project’s success to collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, state governments, private sector partners, training institutions, and community leaders, which led to the establishment of 36,053 youth-led agribusinesses, alongside agribusiness parks, innovation hubs, and cooperative clusters.
Also speaking, Ms Rosy Fynn, Country Director for Nigeria at the Mastercard Foundation, said I-Youth aligns with the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, aimed at enabling 10 million Nigerians to access dignified and fulfilling work.
She added that the programme has delivered measurable impact on lives and communities.
Fynn further highlighted the Start Them Early Program (STEP), which supported secondary school students and their families to establish over 5,900 homegrown agribusiness ventures.
Beneficiaries at the event shared testimonies, with Olumide Garuba from Lagos State saying the programme helped him formalize his agribusiness and employ other youths, while Mariam Abass from Kaduna State said it enabled her to overcome gender barriers, rebuild her poultry business, and support women in her community.
Panel discussions stressed the need for better access to finance, stronger market linkages, and sustained post-training support, particularly for women and persons with disabilities.
As Phase I ends, stakeholders said lessons from Nigeria are already shaping similar initiatives in Sierra Leone and Liberia, while reaffirming commitments to sustain and scale the most impactful elements of the I-Youth model.