Mrs. Olaniyan Folusho Ibiyemi, OON , F.CIoD

Folusho started her career in the food industry as a management trainee with A.G.Leventis Nigeria. Plc. in 1988. She rose through the management cadre to become Head, Sales & Marketing in 2005 when she resigned from the A.G.Leventis group to join UTC Nig Plc as Head, sales & marketing, to later become Managing Director/CEO in 2007 till 2013, when she stepped aside to set up Contact Consulting Nig. Ltd; a Market Research, Business advisory and advocacy, organization, focused on Agricultural value chain development and investments in 2014.

She has served as consultant/ market analyst Cassava Adding Value for Africa; a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project.

She also served as expert advisor to Dalberg Global advisors on agricultural projects.Folusho also served as Business Development and Marketing Adviser to MADE (Market For Development in The Niger Delta), funded by DFID through DAI UK. She also served as a consultant to Palladium Group United Kingdom, on the West Africa Food Markets Pilot Programme in 2016. Folusho served on the judging panel of the Rockefeller

foundation Cassava Yieldwise $1million dollars Challenge in 2016 , to promote innovation in cassava post harvest practices.

She served as a consultant to the World economic forum Grow Africa project, on data assessment of maize , soya bean, and coffee sectors in 2017. Folusho served as a member of the project advisory council of BASICS-a 4 year project cassava seeds system economic project funded by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. From 2017-2020. Folusho led the advocacy team on the AGRA funded policy reform project titled: Advocacy for the passage of the fertilizer control bill, the Nigerian independent warehouse regulatory agency bill, and the presidential assent to the Nigerian seed council Bill from 2018 to 2020.

Folusho is the Chairman, Board of Directors Psaltry International, the first company in Africa to produce cassava May 2024 based Sorbitol, and a leading producer of food grade cassava starch, and High quality cassava flour, with an outgrower scheme of over 3500 farmers. In June 2020,

Folusho is an Independent Non executive Director Of Odua Investment Company Ltd. Odua investment group is the investment hub of south western Nigeria. OICL is a strategic investment and asset management firm founded in 1976 to hold and manage the industrial and commercial assets of companies owned by the governments of the 6 South Western states in Nigeria. Folusho is a member of the Governing council and Chairman Public Private Partnership committee of Ekiti State University Nigeria.

Folusho also served as a consultant to Giz, the German cooperation, SEDIN, & NICOP, on the 4 year Nigerian competitiveness programme co-financed by the European union. Folusho is a technical expert/technical committee member of British American Tobacco foundation of Nigeria. Folusho is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK, a Cochran fellow of the United States Department of Agriculture USDA. and a fellow of the Institute of Directors.

She is currently the Chairman, the Agriculture and Agro-allied committee of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria; and a member of the executive committee of the Institute of Directors Nigeria. Folusho holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and a professional postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Cookham, United Kingdom. She attended a  certificate programme in organizational leadership in 2009 at the Johnston Institute for responsible leadership at the University of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Folusho is an alumni of Harvard Business school executive education.

In recognition of her contribution to the Nigerian food industry, Folusho was awarded National honours of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in September 2014 by the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.