On January 22, 2020, a group of top AUN management staff had a round table discussion with representatives of Silade Agro Club's representatives; Stella Adetunji and Imal Silva from the Abuja agribusiness consultancy.
On the AUN side were Vice President Abba Tahir, Director of Environment, Ibrahim H. Song, the Dean, School of Business & Entrepreneurship, Dr. Attahir Yusuf, and the Director of Development, Sameer Yeshwanth, who facilitated the meeting.
AUN’s method of teaching is experiential; as such the university is always willing to embrace development and initiatives that improve the skills of students, said the SBE Dean.
Prior to this discussion, AUN had collaborated with the Ahmed Joda dairy and livestock farm which has well-structured and established facilities to enhance the practical learning of the agribusiness degree enrollees. Owing to the newly approved degree take-off, the university also plans to establish an on-campus farm.
The team further discussed how to sustain AUN’s economic tree crop production using organic growth supplements and suitable technologies.
Mr. Song spoke extensively about what the sustainability unit intends to do, including a commercial-scale production of exotic crops such as avocados, apples, and berries, which are difficult to grow in the region.
"We intend to expand the production of existing economic crops to satiate the growing market needs both within and outside the country to the point of earning foreign exchange for the University."
Mrs. Adetunji assured AUN that their sustainability dream is achievable.
The consultants have established agribusinesses in other schools and communities.
"Creating an umbrella for agribusiness is our value chain."
Mr. Silva added that their network of trained clients extends to not less than 25 states.
"I truly appreciate AUN for taking things from a different perspective, especially sustainability to meet the growing needs of the community."
VP Tahir briefed the agribusiness experts about the culture of studies at AUN and the values it holds for the community.
He said AUN uses an America-centric method of learning with a focus on training job creators as opposed to job seekers.
"At AUN, we believe a creative and innovative entrepreneurial mindset opens a window to wealth creation."
The consultants were impressed to learn that AUN gives seed funds to students who have identified and pitched scalable business ideas through the Entrepreneurship Field Experience course.
Reported by Rofiat Adekunle