The BATN Foundation has awarded ten million naira to six young agribusiness entrepreneurs, recognising their achievements as part of the 2025 Farmers for the Future Programme during Lagos’s Agribusiness Dialogue Session. The biennial dialogue, which explored the theme “Is the Smallholder Farmer Financeable?”, provided a platform to discuss opportunities for youth engagement, innovation, and finance in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The Farmers for the Future initiative, launched in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps, is designed to shift perceptions of agriculture from a last resort to a viable and scalable business opportunity. The programme targets young Nigerians with innovative agribusiness ideas or operational ventures, providing equity-free grants, mentorship, technical assistance, and market linkages. Through this approach, the BATN Foundation aims to tackle youth unemployment, enhance technical and entrepreneurial capacity, and position agriculture as an attractive career path.
The 2025 edition of the programme attracted some of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs. Following a rigorous and transparent selection process, six winners emerged and received financial awards to scale their ventures. In addition to funding, winners will benefit from capacity-building support, business development guidance, and inclusion in the Farmers for the Future alumni network, ensuring ongoing access to partnerships and resources that extend well beyond the competition.
A senior representative of the BATN Foundation explained that the programme is about reimagining the role of young people in agriculture. The initiative demonstrates that, with the right access to financing, mentorship, and networks, youth can transform agriculture into a sector defined by innovation, enterprise, and economic opportunity. The 2025 winners were cited as examples of the resilience, creativity, and ambition the programme seeks to cultivate.
Since its inception, the Farmers for the Future Programme has delivered measurable impact. Past beneficiaries have used grants to move products from prototype to market, obtain regulatory approvals, expand product lines, and involve women farmers in their supply chains. Such success stories underline the Foundation’s belief that investing in youth is one of the most effective ways to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural sector, drive job creation, and support broader economic diversification.
For MSMEs and emerging agripreneurs, the programme offers both financial and technical support, helping young operators scale their businesses, access new markets, and integrate into value chains that contribute to national food security and sustainable economic growth.
