Introducing Dr. Babafemi Oyewole, ACA’s Newly Appointed Managing Director

On December 3rd, 2015, the African Cashew Alliance(ACA) Secretariat welcomed Dr. Babafemi Oyewole as ACA's Managing Director. Following an extensive recruitment process, Dr. Oyewole was selected by ACA's Executive Committee to lead the organization.

A native of Nigeria, Dr. Oyewole joins ACA with over twenty five years experience in finance, private enterprise development, and management consulting.

The ACA Communications team sat down with Dr. Oyewole for an interview to discuss his experience in the public and private sector, his vision for ACA, as well his short-term and long-term goals for the cashew industry. Please find the interview below.

1.     Why did you want to become Managing Director for the African Cashew Alliance (ACA)?

As a Development Economist, I have always had a passion for initiatives that generate economic developmental outcomes and poverty reduction.  The agricultural sector and food production particularly attract my attention. I am therefore interested in contributing to the development of the cashew value chain by promoting the economic development of producing countries via expanding processing capacity, export and foreign exchange earnings, and  empowering farmer groups, which can thereby, improve income and generate employment. All of which are major challenges in this sector. This aptly captures my desire to lead  ACA.

2.     What are your short-term and long-term goals as Managing Director?

Our short- term goal is to build the confidence of our stakeholders so that we can continue to enlist their support.  This will be done through the re-organization of our personnel and processes to ensure that we professionally operate in line with international best practices. In the long-term, we are going to put in place a transformation strategy that will enable our organization to effectively meet the expectations of all our stakeholders in terms of technical support, market linkages, access to finance, quality improvement with the intention to build an African cashew brand that will be respected and sought after in both the local and global markets.

3.     How do you envision the role of ACA changing under your leadership?

The role of ACA is to provide technical assistance and facilitate investments, promote market linkages and international standards, sharing information, and best practices.   If these roles are performed effectively, it will result in increased processing of raw cashew nut (RCN) in Africa, improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the African industry, facilitate public-private partnership and cooperation for the benefit of the cashew industry.  We are going to be committed to making ACA perform these roles effectively and efficiently through innovative and professional delivery of our services, as well as improve our advocacy efforts by enlisting the support of the public sector, particularly in promoting the implementation of enabling policies for the benefit of the cashew industry.

4.     What interests you most about working in the cashew industry?

My interest in the industry is to implement programs and projects that are aimed at adding value to RCN through increased processing and high quality standards.  I am also interested in ensuring that the industry is well organized along the various stages of the value chain so that all stakeholders can derive maximum benefits from their operations.

5.     What will be your level of engagement and contribution to ACA and its members?

ACA has a very interesting membership base that consists of public and private sector stakeholders within Africa and internationally.  This is where I believe that my experience in both the public and private sector will enable us to effectively and strategically engage with various stakeholders in order to achieve our organizational vision, mission, and objectives. Our engagement will be targeted at enlisting their support and mobilizing all necessary resources for the projects and programs of the Secretariat.  This will be achieved through regular consultation and strategic communication to inform them about our plans and performance.  We will also seek their inputs for our programs and projects to ensure that they are effectively involved in the activities of the organization.

6.     What is your vision for ACA?

My vision is to make ACA a professionally run international organization that will be able to achieve the vision of its founders which is to create a "globally competitive African cashew industry that benefits the value chain - from farmer to consumer," as well as assist ACA to achieve the objectives set out in the Maputo Declaration.  The guidelines outlined for the achievement of the declaration will be vigorously pursued and these are: support and training for farmers and exporters, empowerment of farmer groups, investment in research and development (R&D), implementation of investment incentives for best practices in processing, and a sustained global marketing campaign  to ensure donor investment.

7.     How do you intend to solve some of the challenges experienced by the cashew industry?

A major challenge  in the cashew industry, particularly in Africa is increasing value addition.  Africa grows about 49 percent of the world's crop. Domestic value added processing is estimated at 10 percent— which is very low. We are therefore going to implement innovative strategies that will enable ACA to achieve the set target of processing 35 percent of African produced RCN by year 2020. We will enhance strategic partnerships with stakeholders to mobilize financing, facilitate investment, support research and development (R&D) and provide direct technical assistance for investors in Africa.  Furthermore, there are tremendous opportunities for intra-African raw nut trade and processed cashew, as well as its by-products, which are not currently being exploited. Also, ACA seeks to facilitate a free-trade dialogue among the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the  South Africa Development Community (SADAC). Furthermore, our objective is to strengthen African cashew consumption via market linkages among African countries. We will continue working with local governments  to try and put in place advocacy strategies to promote this trade and expand regional cashew policies.  The quality of cashew is also very important for both regional and global markets.  In this regard, I will support the ACA Seal program and also explore other quality certifications for African cashew to improve market acceptance and traceability in both the African and global markets.

8.     What is your favorite quote to live and work by? Please explain?

My favorite quote which defines my life and work is "With God nothing shall be impossible."  When we involve God in our lives, then we can draw from His immense wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to confront the challenges of life. In reality, we discover that nothing becomes impossible for us to achieve as we manifest faith in God. As human beings, we have limited wisdom and knowledge but when we allow God to assist us in our endeavors, we tap into His infinite wisdom and we are able to achieve more than we can when we depend on our human wisdom.  This has helped me to face challenges and responsibilities without fear or limitation.