FOLUSHO IBIYEMI OLANIYAN

Chairman Director Development and certification committee of the institute.

• Organized and detail-oriented with a strong work ethic.
• Passionate about learning and committed to continual improvement.

• BATN foundation is an independent charity focused on development, sustainable agriculture, and afforestation, to improve smallholder farmers income and improve community livelihood in Nigeria.
• As a technical committee member, i give technical support and guidance on the foundation’s sustainable agricultural and afforestation programmes and strategies. Adviser on technical matters such as scaling of projects, inclusive rural economic participation,climate aligned production systems, sustainable land and resource management, and improving processes.

• Member board governance and nominations committee. I was appointed pioneer group independent director to play a key role in the turnaround process. Under my leadership as Chairman investment committee, Odua investment was turned around to profitability via development and implementation of the company’s Sweat, Revive Create SRC 2020 -2025 strategic plan. Odua’s credit rating was upgraded to A- by Agusto & co in July 2025; the second highest possible rating from Agusto & co. Odua investment has investments in real estate, hospitality, oil and gas, financial services, information technology and agriculture.
• OICL is a strategic investment and asset management firm founded in 1976 to hold and manage the industrial and commercial assets of companies owned by the governments of the 6 South Western states in Nigeria.
• I provide board level strategy and performance oversight, and provide leadership on capital allocation,portfolio performance,investment evaluation and investment discipline as the chairman of the investment committee.

• Psaltry International is an agro allied company founded in 2005. With an outgrower program of over 12,000 farmers to support its food grade starch, cassava flour, hydrogen and sorbitol factories, to supply companies like Nestle, Unilever, Biogas. 5 year strategic plan implementation is ongoing. The positive results attracted funding and investment of circa $2million USD from a private equity firm Alitgeia in 2022.
• Psaltry converts cassava waste tomethane.
• Psaltry has a viable animal feed processing plant, using cassava waste.
• Psaltry has successfully transitioned from the local market to regional and global markets, marketing food grade cassava starch and floor .
• Role Ended Dec 2025

• Agrainnovate is an agricultural tradeshow/ conference and farmers capacity building workshop funded by Informa connect middle east, the world’s largest quoted exhibition company that attracts 6,000+ attendees including investors, input and agri machinery suppliers, manufacturers, government, and non-governmental agencies.
• My experience as Programme Director, Agrainnovate West Africa enables me access to strong market intelligence and ecosystem convening capacity across African production anms including relevant forestry stakeholders collaborating with companies seeking to move up the value chain into engineered wood products.

• Building an Economically Sustainable, Integrated Seed System for Cassava in Nigeria, 4 year project 20172020, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in collaboration with International institute of tropical agriculture (IITA) Nigeria.

• In partnership with IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative of the Dutch Government, Advisors on the IDH study on Market Opportunities for Commercial Cassava Production in Nigeria, Ghana and Mozambique, and on the Ondo state commercialization study on four high potential agricultural value chains.
• Led strategic initiatives to enhance client engagement and project outcomes.
• Facilitated stakeholder workshops to identify development priorities and align objectives.
• Developed comprehensive reports analyzing social impact metrics for informed decision-making.
• Mentored junior consultants, fostering professional growth and enhancing skills within the team.
• Conducted market research to inform strategy and support evidence-based recommendations.

Turnaround managing Director of the company recruited to transit the company from loss making to profitability and increased shareholder value to attract new investors.

I led the national project: commercialization of cassava bread, collaborating with Nigeria's ministry of agriculture and rural development in 2012 to improve smallholder cassava farmers income and increase local raw material content in domestic processing to enhance agricultural and food processing companies profitability..

• Responsible for marketing and new product development strategy.
• Responsible for market growth and transition from domestic market to regional markets.
• Oversight of supply chain strategy