Who We Are
We are building the largest Co-operative of Prosperous Nigerian Farmers.
Our Farmers mainly grow Cocoa, Plantain and Edible Insects – Crickets. Also, Springboard has built factories where we turn some of our farmers’ produce into finished products. Our farmers also receive dividends from these initiatives:
- Chocolate (branded TIWA Chocolates): using our farmers’ cacao beans.
- Nutritious Plantain/Banana Chips: using our farmers’ plantain/banana.
- Protein Bread: using the edible crickets insects reared by our farmers. Our bread is the first protein fortified bread approved by the food Agency in Nigeria.
We are a Nigerian social enterprise with an exceptional business-and-development model, which we call Disempowered to Empowered Farmers Model (D2E). Our model empowers small scale farmers through a Cooperative movement that helps our farmers capture most of the value chain; sustainably grow much more food, sell more and sell for more.
The Problem
In its current setup, agriculture in Nigeria is a large-scale and unsustainable poverty trap. Agriculture employs 37% of the total Nigerian workforce, 80% of farmers are disempowered and marginalized. Nigeria spends over 6 billion USD annually to import food (for example Rice) which could be produced domestically.
Smallholders in Nigeria:
- run their farms as subsistence and live in absolute poverty (They earn between $300 – $400 yearly)
- are price-takers and depend on village traders, selling at less than 5% of retail value
- have poor yield due to lack of know-how and best practices
- lack expertise and resources to farm high-quality crops such as cocoa, plantain, and rice.
- lack support to produce more sustainably, sell more, and sell for more
- have dependents who suffer from a vicious cycle of poverty
- personify a reason why rural youth migrate to the cities
How We Are Solving it
We organise smallholder farmers to access agribusiness support and fair, trusted, modern markets.
We Recruit
We Train
We Support
We Buy
We Sell
Impact in Numbers
Our Vision
Springboard envisions a Nation where small-scale farmers are prosperous, can make a sustainable and comfortable living.
Our Goal
By 2030, we will have 30,000 empowered farmers in our network across Nigeria growing cocoa, plantain, and rice, each making over USD 1,500 annually with over 1 million family members of these farmers benefitting from the improved income. Also, we constantly work towards serving the global market with highly nutritious healthy food products such as cocoa, plantain, and rice.