Food Systems Entrepreneur · Climate-Smart Agriculture Builder
Climate-smart agriculture. Food security intelligence. African storytelling. Building what the continent needs — from the ground up.
Lomé, Togo·Doha, Qatar
The Vision
By 2035, I aim to build an integrated ecosystem spanning climate-smart agriculture, agricultural trade, food security intelligence, and rural economic development across West Africa.
Every venture I build, every institution I advise, every policy I influence is a brick in that structure. The ecosystem is already taking shape.
Climate-Smart Agriculture
Greenhouse horticulture and regenerative farming designed for West African conditions — building demonstration sites, training grounds, and proof of concept for what African-led food production can look like.
Food Security Intelligence
Simulation tools, policy advisory, and data-driven decision frameworks for governments and institutions. Translating agricultural complexity into actionable intelligence for the room where decisions get made.
Agricultural Trade & Value Chains
West African commodities to Gulf and international markets, built on traceability, authenticity, and long-term relationships. Connecting producers to premium buyers without sacrificing margin to middlemen.
10-Year Ecosystem Roadmap
From a single greenhouse in Lomé
to a continent-wide model
About
In the field — building relationships, building futures
I am a sustainable development practitioner, founder, and returning diaspora builder. My foundation is science — a BSc in Biomedical Science from Kingston University and early-career work as a biomedical scientist in Ghana — before a pivot into sustainable agriculture and development that has defined the last decade.
From coordinating a UNDP-funded climate-smart agriculture project for the Togolese Ministry of Agriculture, to leading soil management at Ashghal in Qatar, to designing food security simulation tools for government decision-makers — my work bridges the technical and the strategic, the institutional and the grassroots.
I am now fully focused on building OTSmartFarms in Lomé: a climate-resilient greenhouse operation that I intend to grow into a proof of concept for what African agriculture can be. Everything I have built, researched, and learned is pointing at this.
Beyond agriculture, I am a filmmaker and storyteller — active in Togo's filmmaking scene since 2014 — and the driving voice behind Timndi, a publication on African sovereignty, political economy, and the post-colonial present.
Board & Foundation Roles
Family & Care International — Board Member. An award-winning care farm concept expanding from Germany into Africa. My role spans governance and Africa expansion strategy, bringing my grounding in sustainable agriculture, community development, and cross-cultural partnership to a model redefining dignified ageing globally.
OT Foundation — Founder & Lead. The social impact arm of my work, focused on the empowerment of young people and girls across West Africa.
"What is the use of the resources we have, if we cannot use them to influence change and challenge the status quo."— Ajoke Tairou
Featured In & Recognised For
Government Advisory
National Food Security Simulation
Q-Resilience developed for Qatar government decision-makers — a bespoke policy tool built from real national data.
UNDP-Funded Project
Climate-Smart Agriculture, Togo
Project Coordinator for Ministry of Agriculture initiative impacting 97 smallholder farmers (65% women) and contributing to national land policy.
Film Festival
Togo Film Scene
Active filmmaker and director since 2014. Bataille Intérieure (2018) listed on Film Freeway. Réalisatrice credential at FINA+ festival.
Award
Ambassador of the Year
Kingston University, 2017–2018. Recognised for exceptional STEM outreach and science communication reaching 300+ students.
Board Role
Family & Care International
Board Member contributing governance and Africa expansion strategy for award-winning German care farm concept entering African markets.
Research
NRI Land & Gender Research
Natural Resources Institute field research on women's land access in West Africa. Findings contributed to policy toolkit influencing a projected 300,000 women farmers.
Publication
Timndi
Founder and editor of a pan-African publication on sovereignty, political economy, and diaspora discourse — read across the diaspora and continent.
Speaking & Workshops
Training & Capacity Building
Delivered workshops and training across Qatar and Togo on STEM, sustainable agriculture, grant writing, and gender-inclusive land governance. Led SMS-based agricultural education reaching 50 semi-literate households in Togo.
Ventures, platforms, and projects — each built from conviction.
Climate-Smart Agriculture · Active Build
📍 Lomé, Togo
A greenhouse horticulture venture building climate-resilient food production in West Africa. Structured across three phases — Foundation Building, Proof of Concept, Platform Building — grounded in locally-adapted methods, regenerative principles, and a decade of field-level agricultural practice.
Active · Building NowAgricultural Commodities Export
📍 West Africa → Gulf Region
A West African agricultural commodities export business supplying wholesale importers, institutional buyers, and supermarket chains — with particular focus on the Qatari market. Differentiated on traceability, geographic authenticity, and relationship-based supply.
Active · ExportingFood Security Intelligence · Government Decision Tool
📍 Qatar — National Food Security Simulator
A national food security stress-testing simulator built for government decision-makers. Models Qatar's agricultural system against a 10-year horizon of climate stressors, infrastructure shocks, and supply disruptions. Outputs a Policy Stress Index and National Food Security Index in a standalone HTML dashboard. No servers. No installs.
Policy Tool · Simulation DashboardPublication · Editorial
📍 Diaspora · Pan-African
A publication engaging African sovereignty, political economy, diaspora discourse, and the psychological legacy of colonialism. A platform for rigorous, honest, and unsettling inquiry into the African present and future.
Publication · ActiveImpact
Everything I build is designed to leave something behind — in the soil, in communities, in the next generation.
Across my ventures in agriculture, trade, and governance, one question runs through all of it: who benefits, and for how long?
Farms that feed and teach. Foundations that reach girls before the system forgets them. Care models that honour elders instead of warehousing them. This is what building with purpose looks like.
Social Impact · West Africa
Founder & Lead
The OT Foundation exists to expand opportunity for young people and girls in West Africa. We have already reached girls in rural Togo through hygiene education and sanitary pad distribution programmes — because dignity starts with the basics.
What is coming next: agricultural training and workshops for young people in Togo and Nigeria, equipping the next generation with practical skills and a future in food systems.
Girls reached in rural Togo · Agricultural training programmes launching in Togo & NigeriaClimate-Smart Agriculture · Togo
Founder
Climate-smart greenhouse horticulture in Togo, built on the belief that African agriculture can be a model — not just a market. Every farm built is a demonstration site, a training ground, and a proof of concept for what sustainable food production looks like when it is led from within.
Demonstration site · Training ground · Proof of concept for African-led sustainable food productionGovernance · Africa Expansion
Board Member
As a board member, I contribute to the governance and Africa expansion strategy of Family & Care International — a German-origin, award-winning care farm concept bringing dignified, community-based elderly care to new markets.
The Africa chapter is just beginning.
Award-winning care farm model · Expanding into Africa · Redefining dignified ageingFarms that feed and teach. Foundations that reach girls before the system forgets them. Care models that honour elders instead of warehousing them.
By the Numbers
Experience
MSc Sustainable Development for Agriculture
University of Greenwich, UK
2019–2020 · Sustainable Value Chains, Climate Resilience, Rural Development
BSc Biomedical Science
Kingston University, UK
2014–2018
Certificate
Project Management
Areas of Expertise
Memberships & Board Roles
Agriculture Specialist / Project Lead
Ashghal — Ministry of Interior, Qatar
Led soil management and landscaping projects across three sites, integrating GIS mapping to assess erosion risks and optimise irrigation systems. Managed Urban Gardener training on drought-resistant plants and soil conservation. Conducted feasibility studies on AI-powered soil health monitoring.
Assistant Lecturer, Applied Sciences
Community College of Qatar, Qatar
Taught and trained students in Applied Sciences. Managed science curriculum development for 800 students, integrating data analysis and STEM principles. Conducted data-driven staff workshops and coordinated STEM outreach programmes and university partnerships.
Project Coordinator, Climate-Smart Agriculture
Ministry of Agriculture, Togo · UNDP Funded
Coordinated Eco-Village climate-smart agriculture initiatives for 97 smallholder farmers (65% women), focusing on soil health, water conservation, and gender-inclusive resource management. Applied GIS mapping to assess soil degradation and guide land restoration. Contributed policy briefs on gender equity in land access.
Research Assistant, Land and Gender Research
Natural Resources Institute (NRI), Togo / UK
Field research on women's land access and tenure security in rural communities. Collected and analysed data on gender disparities in land ownership. Supported policy dialogues on inclusive land governance. Drafted policy briefs and reports. Facilitated community focus groups in French, Ewe, and Yoruba.
Biomedical Scientist
Healthcare Sector, Ghana
Clinical practice following BSc Biomedical Science — the scientific rigour that underpins everything since. Foundation for a career built at the intersection of science, systems, and impact.
Creative Practice
Since 2014, active in Togo's filmmaking scene as a director and photographer — using visual storytelling to advocate for human rights, social justice, and the richness of African culture and traditions.
Creative work driven by the same conviction as development practice: that the most powerful tool for change is the ability to make people see what they would otherwise overlook.
A film exploring the internal conflicts of identity, belonging, and resistance — personal and political, rooted in the experience of navigating multiple worlds.
Speaking & Workshops
Available for speaking, workshops, and training on climate-smart agriculture, food security, sustainable development, grant writing, and African political economy. Practitioner-first — grounded in real field experience across West Africa, the Gulf, and the UK.
Climate-Smart Agriculture in Practice
From concept to field implementation — designing resilient agricultural systems for Sub-Saharan Africa, grounded in UNDP-funded projects, GIS soil mapping, and greenhouse development in Togo.
NGOs · Agribusiness · GovernmentAfrican Food Sovereignty & Security
The political economy of food in Africa, import dependency, and what genuinely resilient food systems on the continent require to build and sustain.
Policy · Academia · Civil SocietyGrant Writing for Development Projects
Practical frameworks for funding applications — narrative structure, results frameworks, donor alignment — from experience coordinating UNDP-funded projects.
Organisations · Founders · NGOsProject & Programme Management
Strategic and operational tools for managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects across STEM education, agricultural development, and soil management.
Teams · Institutions · FoundersGender, Land Rights & Agricultural Policy
The intersection of gender equity and land governance in West Africa — from NRI field research to policy brief, informing national agricultural policy in Togo.
INGOs · Government · Research BodiesDiaspora, Identity & the Return
The psychological, political, and practical dimensions of return for African diaspora practitioners building on the continent.
Diaspora Networks · Cultural OrganisationsContact
Whether you are looking to collaborate on food systems work, explore a supply partnership, commission a workshop, discuss a policy project, or simply connect — I would like to hear from you.