AREMU Fakunle John is a Senior Agribusiness and Policy Advisor professional with experience and
expertise in national policy and advocacy, regional trade, agro-commodity supply chain, market system, business development management of enterprises in Nigeria, Ghana and selected West African countries.
He supports and strengthens the establishment of policy advocacy groups such as the Rice policy
initiatives of Nigeria (RiPAIN), Africa Rice Advocacy Platform (ARAP), among others; and he provided
technical policy advise and recommendations to organizations and regulatory agencies, lead private and public institutions for enabling business environment, trade promotion and market facilitation between national and sub-national business groups. He uses his skills and expertise in intersection between agricultural policy, foods system, market dynamics, & regional cooperation to promote business partnership among the value chain actors.
Meanwhile, he has 11 years’ professional experience in food security, agribusiness, government relations and advocacy support to pilot and implement programs, on ground and in person scouting, regulatory compliance, and managing stakeholders in public and private institutions as well as minimization of risks involved in project development with respect to political environment in the developing countries. He has learnt much about the act of mobilizing human and material resources (finance, intellect/skills and innovations) for business development and trade promotion through private and public sector engagements.
John’s background and networks are great assets to sustainably serve to achieve effective economic
development of poor households. In terms of project management: He had worked as team lead for propoor livelihood development for GIZ-AFC, public private relations & policy advocacy expert for the
John. A. Kufuor Foundation in partnership with the German International Development Cooperation
(GIZ) in the GIZ Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) project.
He also monitors, interprets and explain government regulations and policies relevant to the achievement of the program objectives. He has developed productive internal and external relationships with donors, government representatives at Federal, State and Local government level as well as development partners (such as Grow Africa/AUDA, AGRA, NEPAD,
Action Aid, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), The World Bank Group,
British High Commissions, British Standard Institution (BSI), national regulatory agencies, civil Society Organizations and private firms. He leads the development and implementation of business strategies that reduces poverty among smallholder farmers across different states in Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso. He develops strong alliance between public and private partners to achieve cross cutting national and regional policy goals and objectives of donor organizations.
John has been applying different skill sets ranging from due diligence, networking, knowledge
management and effective communications, to research, promote regional trade and reports on policy issues. He facilitated public-private trade policy dialogues at the national & the international levels on the promotion of enabling environment for agribusiness in Nigeria. These engagement and exposure are added advantage that made it easy for him to work in multinational, multicultural and multi-tasking environments.
Moreover, as researcher, He has successfully conducted surveys and published 4 policy briefs as well as more than 10 research articles in both national and international journals on various topics around livelihoods, trade, agribusiness and environment. His experience and willingness to leverage best practices in innovations and ability to explore new markets, people; culture and work environment made him to deliver quality results for his employers.