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Home , Babcock University, Lagos State University, University of Ilorin

ANDE West Africa Regional Conference Agenda

Time Tuesday, July 24 Room

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 Arrival & Registration

a.m.

Welcome and Introduction 10:00 a.m. Olatunji Ajani, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs Amphi Theater

ANDE’s West Africa Chapter Manager welcomes you to ! We will begin with an introduction to set expectations for what participants hope to get out of the West Africa Regional Conference.

Looking Back on the West African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Projecting Forward

Peter "Banky" Bamkole, Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University; 10:15 a.m. Tenemba Anna Samaké, MBC Africa; Olawale Anifowose, Enterprise Development Centre of Pan-Atlantic University

The West Africa entrepreneurial ecosystem is growing but there is still a lot of challenges and as well as possibilities in the ecosystem. This session seeks to reflect on some of the changes that we have seen over the last few years as well as discussed potential opportunities that actors should prepare for.

11:15 a.m. Tea Break & Transition

Speed Networking 11:45 a.m. Enjoy getting to know other conference participants in a rapid speed networking session! Cafeteria Lunch 1:00 p.m.

Breakout Sessions

How Can Intermediaries Best Support Succession Planning for SGBs? Eno Amelia Edet, AMSCO; Elikem (Elly) Asenath Commey, Stanford SEED; Olúwatóyìn (Toyin) Emmanuel-Olubake, Acumen

In this session we will discuss the role of talent and the importance of succession planning for the SGBs we work with. Specifically, we will discuss the value of succession Board Room planning as well as some of the misconceptions affiliated with planning. Finally, we will discuss some of the key challenges associated with planning and executing for succession and some of the steps that can be taken to effectively plan and implement succession in companies.

2:15 p.m. The Rise of Gender Lens Investing: Creating Financial and Social Impact Tenemba Anna Samaké, MBC Africa; Gwen Abiola-Oloke, GroFin; Temilade Denton; Alitheia Capital

Investing through a Gender Lens means disaggregating information on an investment to Flat Surface identify and understand the differences and roles gender patterns play, in order to see Classroom opportunities and mitigate risks while improving outcomes for women. This approach to investing has been increasingly explored and implemented, as investors seek to harness the value of women. This panel will discuss the impact, advancement, and challenges facing GLI, especially in Africa where the approach is in its early stages.

Overcoming Policy & Regulatory Challenges for SGBs Anatu Ben Lawal, Reach for Change Africa; Omolola Adekanye, Center for International Private Enterprise; Abosede Alimi, Employment Trust Fund

This session will cover a few different topics related to policy, legal, and regulatory issues facing the SGB community. What are intermediary organizations doing to convene and influence policy makers to make the regulatory friendlier to small and growing Amphi Theater businesses? What are some of the biggest regulatory challenges facing SGBs today and how can ANDE members form partnerships to address these challenges? We will discuss these questions and more at this session.

3:30 p.m. Tea Break & Transition

Breakout Sessions

Impact Measurement: West African Perspectives Daniel Asare-Kyei, Esoko; Olukolade George Shobo, PACT; Hélène Diouf, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture

Measuring the impacts of our business models and interventions as social entrepreneurs or NGOs is central to everything that we do. From understanding the effectiveness of our products in helping to drive ground impacts among our target users to obtaining proof points for fund raising to satisfying the demands of investors or understanding the footprints we make in the environment to getting hard core data and evidence to convince Board Room potential clients that our product works, measuring impact has become an indispensable tool in today’s way of doing business.

However, many SGBs find it hard to conduct impact measurement. Despite the myriad of tools currently available for measuring impact, impact measurement hasn’t been an integral feature in the annual work plans and budgets for many SBGs. In this session, we will explore the challenges SGBs face in measuring ground impact and discuss the opportunities and solutions available to SGBS to integrate concrete impact measurement policies in their businesses.

Enabling African Youth for the Digital Economy Wale Ajiboye, Acumen; Tayo Olosunde, MindtheGap; Raphael Afaedor, Supermart.ng 3:45 p.m. The theme for the 2018 UN MSME Day on June 27 was "The Youth Dimension". This theme put into context the "unique contributions that the demography need to bring on the table to stimulate innovation, drive operational efficiency, deepen customer acquisition and retention, facilitate profitability and impact and finally drive growth and sustainability”. Amphi Theater The theme underscored why digital skills must be the focus of all "work readiness educational programmes". In this conversation, we will discuss how digital skills are perceived in the hierarchy of SGB's skills basket and we will learn about how participants’ experiences have been in finding competent job seekers to meet their digital skills requirements. Finally, we will identify and aggregate what SGB's are doing individually and collectively to "participate in the effort to deepen the availability of this required manpower".

Impact vs. Profit: The Evolution of NGOs in Impact Investing Zubeiru Salifu, AV Ventures; Kim Scriven, Mercy Corps Social Venture Fund; Arielle Molino, Intellecap Flat Surface In West Africa, Impact Investing is not yet very well understood and struggles to gain Classroom credibility in the market because it is oftentimes perceived as being no different from philanthropy. In reality, there is a progressive social impact scale from pure-play philanthropy up to main stream investing, with many sub-segments in between (venture philanthropy, returnable grants, impact investing, etc.). While we know this scale exists, the lines are most definitely blurred, and organizations often can move fluidly across the spectrum. In fact, recent years has seen a number of NGOs experimenting with more sustainable impact investing initiatives, to complement their traditional aid-based approaches and to increase their own sustainability. While there is no black and white, this session will look at how NGOs are exploring the impact investing landscape, how some of them have done it successfully, and what their critical role is in building the local impact investing ecosystem.

5:00 p.m. Converge for Evening Reception Ampi Theater

The Grand 6:00 p.m. GALI-Oxfam Dinner & Report Launch Junction Join the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) in an evening dinner and Landmark the launch of the GALI-Oxfam incubators and accelerators knowledge brief, titled Towers, "Accelerating Youth-Led Enterprise in ". 5B, Water Corporation Road, Oniru

Time Wednesday, July 25 Room

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 Arrival

a.m.

Welcome and Introduction

Olatunji Ajani, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs 10:00 a.m.

We will recap the first day and report back from some of the highlights of the breakout sessions.

Keynote: Interview with Entrepreneurs Olabode Adetoyi, Hi-Nutrients International Ltd. Olagoke Balogun, So Fresh Amphi Theater Moderated By: Peter "Banky" Bamkole, Enterprise Development Centre of Pan- Atlantic University

Olabode Adetoyi is a Harvard University trained entrepreneur and motivational speaker born years ago into a Royal family of Ile-Titun, Oke Afin Street in Otun-Ekiti, Ekiti state. He proceeded to University of , Ilorin , where he bagged a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture (B. Agric Hons) with specialization in Animal production. He earned a Master Degree in Animal Nutrition & Bio-(M.sc Hons) with PHD grade from the University of , Ibadan, Nigeria, and later executive training at Harvard Business school Boston USA, couple with senior Mgt. programme, Grooming Enterprise Leader( 10:30 a.m. GEL) at Pan Atlantic University (Lagos Business School, Nigeria). Finally, Bode has an MBA (Hons) from with a specialization in Marketing. To widen his horizon, he took a Senior Management Programme course at the prestigious Pan-Atlantic University (Lagos Business School). He belongs to SMP 19 class.

In his effort to realize his age long ambition of becoming a modern farmer, he joined the farming/livestock industry, where he worked variously as Farm Supervisor, Farm Manager to sales Manager of nutritional products for 9years. All these experience served as pedestal on which he stood to commence his own business.

On 21st March 2013, his company was ranked the 41st fastest growing and well managed company in Nigeria 50. The award was given by Tony Elumelu Foundation in conjunction with All World Network (USA) chaired by the most influential management guru in the world as reported by the Times London Magazine in person of Professor Michael Porter (Harvard Business School). He is also an awardee of Captain of industry by Nigeria Society of Animal production in conjunction with , Ilishan – Remo on 17th march, 2014.

Olagoke Balogun is an entrepreneur extremely passionate about change in Africa and building sustainable organizations on sound business principles. He is dedicated to creating impact in my community through using his skills and competencies to create value as a business owner. His focus is on strategic thinking, continuous learning and application of creativity to business implementation and execution.

Olagoke is a graduate of from with over 13 years varied work experiences across different industries; food & beverage, marketing and oil & gas. He holds a degree in Entrepreneurial management from EDC, Pan Atlantic University, and was a WIP participant with OXFAM. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Stanford SEED.

Currently, he is the Chief Executive Efficer of So Fresh, Nigeria’s premium brand in the healthy food space offering consumers fresh, nutrient rich and beyond delicious healthy meals every day. He has grown So Fresh from a small start to become Nigeria's No.1 premium brand that provides, good, clean nutrition and healthy living for all our customers. Fresh is best and that is how we win every day, selling a wide variety of fresh salads, smoothies, juices, parfait and other quick on the go healthy meals.

11:30 a.m. Tea Break & Transition

Breakout Sessions

Gender Lens Investing: Technical Assistance Approaches & Support

Nneka Okekearu, Enterprise Development Centre; Axel De Ville, Appui au Développement Autonome; Brenda Wangari, Village Capital Amphi Theatre Increasingly, more women are entering the venturing space. For many of them, the journey is fraught with challenges not only with access to market but funding from their ideation stage to market. Research has shown more men attract funding than women. This session will take an exploratory view on the reasons and possible solutions for this.

The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Developing a Talent Pipeline for the

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Rose Dodd, College; Sena Agbodjah Agyepong, Ashesi University College; Ruth David, West Africa Vocational Education (W.A.V.E.) 12:00 p.m.

The role of higher education institutions is to provide students with a well-rounded education that prepares them for adult life, wherein they fit into the work world as Flat Surface employers or employees. Different institutions have different which Classroom promote different pedagogies, resulting in unique graduates with specific characteristics. There has been a cry for educational reforms across some West African Countries with the need for an educational system that produces well-rounded graduates with the right skill, knowledge, and cognitive learnings to make them responsible citizens.

This panel will look at cases from educational institutions within the sub-region and beyond, and how they have crafted their visions and policies to promote pedagogies that produce well-rounded graduates who develop the right mindsets to be employees (intrapreneurs) or employers (entrepreneurs). It will discuss how these graduates contribute towards the entrepreneurial ecosystems in the respective countries and the continent in general. With this tone set, it will review other examples of entrepreneurial education pedagogies, and attempt to arrive at how higher education institutions can better position themselves to become a reliable talent pipeline of youth, who can take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities on the continent, and be relevant to its entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Finding Best Approaches to Supporting Small and Growing Agribusinesses

Madeleine Tsimi, Rikolto; Andrew Akoto, Growth Mosaic; Julius Rono, Solidaridad Network

Agribusiness is a vast sector with each category of agribusiness requiring unique Board Room support. Small and growing agribusiness entrepreneurs do not usually yet have the depth of sector knowledge and networks necessary to thrive on their own. Tailored ecosystem support is therefore critical to their survival and sustainability. In this facilitated session, participants will explore some of the best ways to deliver such needed support.

1:15 p.m. Lunch Cafeteria

Breakout Sessions Best Practices: Local & International Fundraising

Anatu Ben-Lawal, Reach for Change Africa; Devin Chesney, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs; Ndifreke Okwuegbunam, Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation

ANDE members often identify fundraising as one of their biggest organizational Amphi Theatre challenges as they look to support the entrepreneurs they work with. Join this discussion to hear from various perspectives about what has worked well in international and local (domestic) fundraising efforts. The lead discussants welcome your comments and ideas around what has worked well for your organization as well

as other questions you might have related to fundraising.

Business Support Services: A Holistic Approach

Michael Adeola, Oxfam; Abosede Alimi, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund; Averi Thomas-Moore, Accion

Board Room Small businesses require different type of services for them to grow. Depending on their

2:30 p.m. stages, they may require different level of services from training to mentoring or even consulting services. The session will explore different ways organizations are using holistic approach to deliver business support services to SGBs Understanding Sub-Saharan African Incubator/Accelerator Models - Challenges and Potentials Flat Surface Gatumi Aliyu, Zone Tech Park; Wole Odetayo, LoftyInc/Wennovation Hub; Bankole Classroom Oloruntoba, Enspire Incubator; Judith Rosenbrand, Triple Jump

This session will discuss the regional and country wide ecosystem around existing models in acceleration and incubation. What are the support structures that enable incubators and accelerators to thrive (eg. policy and regulation, sustainability, and other resources)? Finally, what does the future look like and what are some of the opportunities to best support incubators and accelerators both in Anglophone and Francophone Africa? 3:45 p.m. Closing Plenary: Recapping the ANDE West Africa Regional Conference Amphi Theater

We will end with an activity to reflect on what we have learned over the past two days.