New Acumen investee AgroEknor connects Nigerian smallholder farmers to premium global hibiscus markets
A farmer-allied export model delivers fair pricing, climate resilience, and new income pathways for women farmers in Northern Nigeria.
- Blog
- Sustainable agriculture
- West Africa
Acumen has invested in AgroEknor, a Nigerian agribusiness operating end-to-end across the hibiscus value chain, from smallholder production to processing and export. AgroEknor partners with smallholder farmers to improve incomes, expand export earnings, and strengthen climate resilience. The investment advances Acumen’s strategy of backing farmer-allied intermediaries that build inclusive agricultural value chains and enable farmers, particularly women, to earn a dignified living.
Northern Nigeria is home to 87% of the country’s poor, and most smallholder farmers remain trapped in subsistence agriculture. Limited access to premium markets, price exploitation by middlemen, weak infrastructure, and increasing climate volatility leave farmers earning well below the poverty line. These challenges are especially acute for women, who make up a majority of the agricultural workforce yet face systemic barriers to inputs, training, and market access.
AgroEknor addresses these constraints by working directly with more than 6,000 smallholder farmers to source raw and dried hibiscus flowers, provide climate-smart agronomic training, and offer transparent, premium pricing linked to global markets. The company exports dried hibiscus to buyers in Mexico, the United States, and China, while also processing hibiscus into “Madala,” a locally distributed cordial drink that creates additional value and income opportunities within Nigeria.
The company’s model is anchored in its Farmers Education and Empowerment Program (FEEP), which bundles access to quality inputs, climate-resilience training, and guaranteed market access. Agroeknor’s competitive advantage is strengthened by its ownership of one of only seven NAQS-accredited fumigation chambers in Nigeria — critical infrastructure for meeting international export standards — and its YieldPro technology platform, which provides end-to-end traceability increasingly demanded by global buyers.
Together, these capabilities position AgroEknor as a differentiated player in Nigeria’s agricultural export sector. Today, 82% of its farmer partners are women, and 81% live on less than $3.20 per day. Since starting to work with AgroEknor, two out of three farmer partners have reported improved quality of life, and 70% have witnessed improved income. By eliminating intermediaries and linking farmers directly to premium markets, AgroEknor is converting subsistence farming into a pathway toward sustainable livelihoods.
“We are proud to welcome Acumen as a strategic partner in AgroEknor’s next phase of growth. Their investment validates our mission to build a world-class agro-industrial company rooted in African ingenuity, farmer prosperity, and sustainable value-chain transformation.”
Timi Oke, co-founder and chief executive of AgroEknor
Acumen’s investment will support AgroEknor’s next phase of growth, including working capital for hibiscus procurement and export logistics, acquisition of a currently leased sorting facility, expansion into new international markets, and scaling the FEEP program. These investments are expected to improve quality control, reduce spoilage, increase capacity utilization, and expand the company’s farmer network across Northern Nigeria.
“AgroEknor exemplifies Acumen’s investment thesis that sustainable business models can drive transformative social impact at scale,” said Babatunde Usman, Investment Manager at Acumen. “By connecting smallholder farmers, particularly women, to premium global markets while providing climate-smart training and fair pricing, AgroEknor is enabling smallholders to graduate from subsistence into commercially viable farming practices creating repeatable pathways to economic resilience.”
Looking ahead, AgroEknor plans to expand its farmer network from 6,000 to more than 24,000, increase processing and fumigation capacity, and drive significant yield improvements through climate-smart practices. With strong foreign-currency revenues and substantial unused capacity, AgroEknor is positioned to demonstrate how export-oriented agriculture can deliver inclusive growth at scale in Northern Nigeria.
This work is supported by the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE), managed by the Palladium Group, Randstad and VSO, and funded by the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This investment is also part of Acumen’s Trellis initiative.
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