Babban Gona

Babban Gona is a high-impact, financially sustainable and highly scalable agricultural social enterprise that is part-owned by the farmers we serve. In recognition of the impact it has achieved thus far, it is the first for-profit social enterprise in history and the first Nigerian organisation to receive the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship is considered the equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize in the Social Entrepreneurship industry.

We developed and grew the agricultural franchise model in partnership with Nestle, DfID, AGRA, BMGF, Skoll, GIZ, USAID, The Mastercard Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, IFAD, Global Partnerships and EDFI AgriFi amongst others. We franchise thousands of mini farmer maize and rice cooperatives across Northern Nigeria using an innovative and internationally recognized agricultural franchise model. Through these franchises, Babban Gona has cost-effectively provided high-quality inputs, credit, training and development, and marketing services to over 200,000 smallholder farmers, enabling them to double their yields and increase their net incomes 2 times greater than the average farmer, while maintaining a 99% loan repayment rate.

To date, Babban Gona has recorded great success:
Impact Metrics
▪ 2X Increased Net Income
▪ 150,000 Rural Men, Women and Children Provided Access to Healthy Food
▪ Over 200,000+ Ha Under Sustainable Cultivation
▪ Over 100,000 women empowered through WEDI in 2021 alone.

Sustainability Metrics
▪ Over 360,000 Profitable Loans Disbursed Since 2016
▪ 99% Loan Repayment Rate

Scalability Metrics:
▪ 250X Growth within last 5 years
▪ Over $30,000,000 in Debt Raised
▪ 1,000,000 Farmers Targeted by 2025