By Akanimo Sampson
A new international development organisation has sprouted up in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Its name is Ikore, which in the Yoruba language means harvest.
The group is coming to proffer some innovative solutions to drive sustainable social and enterprise development in Nigeria, geared towards boosting economic productivity.
A young official of the group who did not want his name on print told this reporter on the telephone that Ikore was out to provide a wide range of services to diverse organisations ‘’offering optimum, and targeted solutions to their specific needs intended to support sustainable development across Africa’’.
On its website, the group is boasting of designing services to meet the needs of value chain development, private sector development, capacity building, gender and youth development, rural entrepreneurship, climate-smart agriculture, strategy and policy advice, monitoring and evaluation as well as research
“Our vision is to contribute to a prosperous world that creates an opportunity for a better life for all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Our Mission is to facilitate market inclusion for improved productivity and a bumper harvest through capacity building, business model/strategy advisory, market linkages, social enterprises and research.
“Ikore’s view of the world is one of a complex system with inter-dependencies. And as such, we work with the private, public sector and other non-state actors to address barriers to access, achieving scale, efficiency and innovation to agribusiness and other sectors.
Whatever we do, we always aim to create a win-win situation for all actors, extending the access frontiers at every opportunity.
“We work in hard-to-reach, economically deprived places and vulnerable communities are torn apart by instability across Nigeria and Africa, providing solutions that support inefficient markets and communities.
“In the agricultural sector, we facilitate inclusive market growth by deploying strategies that promote value chain competitiveness and build resilient communities, ensuring bumper harvest for rural poor farmers in those communities.
“Our very dynamic and innovative workforce/people have experience working in different Value chains across Nigeria and Africa. Our people work collectively with host communities design home-grown solutions that improve the livelihood and resilience of the communities,’’ the group said on its website.
Continuing, they said, “our expertise is in development consulting, research, business advisory and enterprise development across various sectors, using multiple approaches and covering several components such as; market access facilitation, livelihoods and social enterprise development, among many others.
“We also design and implement enterprise-based agricultural development initiative on; sustainable sourcing, labor-saving device cluster access, e-extension services and Rural enterprise for Animal Vaccines. We bring succor to poor households by improving their access to inputs, increase productivity, enhance value chain competitiveness and facilitate market linkages for rural poor farmers.
“Our very dynamic and innovative workforce/people have experience working in different Value chains across Nigeria and Africa. Their experience covers various sectors and value chains across West Africa. People, who collectively with host communities design home-grown solutions that improve the livelihood and resilience of the community.
“Characteristically, rural smallholders lack access to information suitable products, and there is a huge logistical cost associated with filling the demand generated by these widely dispersed smallholders.
“Our solution is centered around developing grass root models that harness proven community-based structures to efficiently deliver products and services in a profitable way.
“Ultimately, we work to decrease rural poultry and livestock mortality due to diseases by facilitating the availability and uptake of affordable life-saving vaccines, strengthen and expand the delivery and distribution network for vaccines, raise awareness and education on the benefits of vaccinating rural poultry and livestock and also promote demand for vaccines through rural enterprises.’’
