The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has dedicated its Business Incubation Platform (BIP) complex to the immediate past Director General of the institute, Dr Nteranya Sanginga. Sanginga, whose 13-year tenure as DG ended on 28 February 2023, performed the unveiling of the signage of the complex at a ceremony held on the campus on Monday, 6 March 2023.

The BIP complex is a brainchild of Sanginga, who established the platform in 2013 to accelerate IITA innovations and research outputs into commercial products and enterprises for public benefit. Some agribusiness entities operating on the platform are Aflasafe, Nodumax and IITA GoSeed. While Aflasafe and Nodumax are biocontrol products for maize and legumes, IITA GoSeed provides farmers with high-quality seeds of improved varieties. The complex also houses the IITA Youth Agriprenuers (IYA) Building. Since its inception, the IYA program, also created by Sanginga, has facilitated the training of about 10,000 youths in agribusiness.

Speaking at the ceremony also attended by two Deputy Directors-General of IITA, Dr Kenton Dashiell (Partnerships for Delivery) and Hilde Koper-Limbourg (Corporate Services), the interim DG of IITA, Dr Benard Vanlauwe, described BIP as a vital platform for the success of all the research IITA carries out.

 “The IITA research community is grateful that Sanginga had the foresight to establish BIP because it has become a vital platform for the success, visibility and scaling of everything we do in Research for Development,” Vanlauwe said. “However, it remains a work in progress because we will have new products and expand to more African countries.

Tracing the history of the development of the BIP complex, Mr Waheed Quader, head of IITA Facilities Management Services (FMS), disclosed that the area the complex currently occupies was formerly a fertilizer storage area and a junkyard.

Dr Alfred Dixon, the Director of the IITA Development and Delivery Office, remarked, “Sanginga successfully converted a junkyard into a business complex that has become pivotal to agricultural transformation in Africa”.

Before unveiling the signage, Sanginga stated that many speak about his strengths, but the complex was ironically borne out of his weakness.

His words: “You have spoken a lot about my strengths, but this complex is a product of one of my weaknesses. I am very stubborn, and that bad character produced BIP. I remember that the board initially opposed the idea of business because IITA was established purely for research. But see what it is today. Despite the initial opposition, I am glad the idea is now being embraced.

Sanginga expressed joy that the incoming DG, Dr Simeon Ehui, was a man who is very much in tune with the BIP and would work to sustain it.

In his address, the Chief Executive Officer of the BIP, Dr Debo Akande, thanked Sanginga for envisioning BIP and assured him that the platform would continue to actualize the purpose for which it was created.

“The BIP reminds me of the saying that “if you can see it, you can do it”, said Akande, who took over as CEO three months ago. “This is a product of vision, and I am glad to be part of it. I assure you, Dr Sanginga, that you will not be disappointed. By the end of this year, you’ll be glad about what you’ll hear about this place”. The IITA Business Incubation platform owns Agriserve, which provides technical expertise to agribusiness development, farming operations and agricultural mechanization services. It also runs joint ventures with Crop Nutrition Laboratory Services Ltd (Cropnuts), Agri Frontier Ltd and Contec Global Agro Limited.