Beyond his unassuming and self-effacing personality is Caleb Osasona, a serial entrepreneur whose professional interests span publishing, creative arts, food security and authorship. A former publisher, multidisciplinary artist and Amazon best-selling author, Osasona has dedicated much of his career to addressing food insecurity and reshaping Africa’s agricultural narrative.
For years, he watched with concern as international media portrayed Africa through images of starving children, impoverished rural communities and women struggling to feed their families. The portrayal, which he considered both damaging and unacceptable, inspired a personal commitment to changing the narrative.
His ambition, he says, is to contribute to a future in which no child in Nigeria or elsewhere goes to bed hungry.
That commitment began taking institutional shape in 2007, when he established Roos Integrated Expo Limited, initially as a consultancy and publisher of a culture and lifestyle magazine.
Years later, confronted by Nigeria’s significant post-harvest losses and the need for greater public awareness and practical intervention, he co-founded the non-profit Initiative for Green Sustainability (IGS).
For Osasona, the cause is deeply personal.
Raised by his grandmother, he experienced the realities of hunger and food insecurity at an early age. He recalls watching her wake at 5am and trek 10 kilometres to the farm each day.
The experience left a lasting impression on him and ultimately shaped his life’s ambition: to make staple foods accessible to households, one community at a time.
His first major intervention was the development of a network of farm incubation hubs designed to equip young Nigerians with the skills and opportunities to become globally competitive agricultural entrepreneurs.
The first phase of that initiative evolved into ABAFEX, the Agriculture and Food Security Convergence, a platform intended to bring together agriculture, research, enterprise and institutional support.
What began as an initiative has since expanded, with its model reportedly replicated across campuses and institutions. It has also attracted commendations and recognition from organisations and institutions including FARO-Kenya, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Nairobi, UNESCO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), federal universities of agriculture and other research institutions.
From recognition to institutional partnership
Osasona’s work attracted wider attention before 2012, when he was named among the 100 People to Watch in Africa’s Future of Agriculture and Development.
The recognition led to his appointment by the Forum for International Green Sustainability to head the Technical Appraisal Team for the Africa Man of the Year in Food Security Award.
For nearly 12 months, his team travelled across Nigeria, engaging farmers and other stakeholders while assessing nominees against established criteria, including investment portfolios, funding sources, farm size and valuation, host community impact and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At least 18 contenders were reportedly shortlisted from across Africa.
On 1 May 2014, the award was presented to Aare Afe Babalola, the legal luminary, educationist, philanthropist and farmer who founded and serves as chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), as well as its Industrial Research Park.
The recognition subsequently opened the door to a partnership that would significantly influence the development of ABAFEX.
Babalola, known for his advocacy of functional education and sustainable agriculture, agreed to personally fund the ABAFEX initiative for three consecutive years.
More than a decade later, the project, now rebranded as ABA-EX, continues to expand its reach.
Although questions surrounding the precise institutional and operational arrangements between the project’s proprietary owner and the AB Foundation remain a subject of discussion, its proponents point to its growing engagement with policymakers, farmers and members of the public.
For the initiative’s supporters, its development illustrates the potential of connecting agricultural enterprise with academic institutions.
The Afe Babalola connection
The IGS co-founder and Director of Strategy and Logistics, Sola Victor Jegede, said Babalola recognised the vision and potential impact of the project and demonstrated his commitment by mobilising an endowment prize of N5 million.
According to Jegede, the project was mandated to visit 72 smallholder farmers and enterprise farms across 16 local government areas.
The overall winner was to receive N1 million, while other successful participants would receive N250,000 each.
He described the intervention as an important source of encouragement for the organisers, adding that they were excited by the support and the response the initiative received.
Osasona, who serves as the project’s country lead, has continued to attract attention from stakeholders in the agricultural sector for his role in developing the convergence model.
The Ekiti-born entrepreneur has been associated with a project pipeline valued at more than N3.2 billion, although the valuation and its underlying components require further clarification.
Explaining his approach to agricultural data and field engagement in an interview with BBC Africa, he said:
“The distance between a farmer’s problem and a solution is less than 50 metres if we bypass the lies told by data mismatch and instead track the farmers on-site with authentic ground truth.”
The statement reflects his emphasis on direct engagement with farmers and the importance of reliable field data in designing interventions that address practical agricultural challenges.
ABUAD and the case for sustainable agriculture
One of the central questions surrounding the ABA-EX model is what makes its association with Afe Babalola University significant.
A key feature is the university’s agricultural production system, which enables it to grow food on its own farm and incorporate agricultural activity into its institutional operations.
This approach, its advocates argue, offers a practical model of how universities can participate directly in food production while providing opportunities for research, training and enterprise development.
Rather than functioning solely as an academic institution, a university with an active agricultural production system can also become a market for the food it produces.
For Osasona and his collaborators, this presents an opportunity to develop a scalable model that could benefit individual farmers, cooperatives, community-based agricultural clusters and, ultimately, the wider economy.
The model also reflects ABUAD’s broader emphasis on practical education, research and entrepreneurship.
Beyond agriculture
Osasona’s activities extend beyond food security and agricultural enterprise.
He currently serves as the pioneer chairman of the Society of Ekiti State Creative Artists (SOECA). Until recently, he was also the immediate past Director-General of the Ekiti Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (EKICCIMA).
His tenure at the chamber was associated with efforts to strengthen trade mission partnerships, expand membership and facilitate business-to-business engagements.
His contributions in these areas attracted commendation from stakeholders within the business community.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Osasona has also exhibited his works in several countries, reflecting an interest in creative expression that runs alongside his entrepreneurial and development work.
From his early experiences helping his grandmother on the farm to his current involvement in agricultural development initiatives, his journey has taken him across several professional fields.
Yet food security remains a central theme of his work.
His current ambition is to harness emerging technologies and digital platforms to bring Generation Z, women and persons with disabilities (PwDs) into smart agriculture.
The objective is to broaden participation in the agricultural value chain, create opportunities for underserved groups and encourage the adoption of innovative approaches to food production and distribution.
For Osasona, the challenge is no longer simply about increasing agricultural output. It is also about building systems that connect farmers to information, markets, technology and institutional support.
His journey, rooted in childhood experiences of hunger and the determination to change how Africa is perceived, continues to revolve around one overarching ambition: helping to secure the continent’s food future.
