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  • November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
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Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:36
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Abstract

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income per hectare was $176, while the average Babban Gona member’s net income was $518. A key part of Babban Gona’s value-proposition was combating the proliferation of militant organizations by offering young Nigerians a viable livelihood as agricultural entrepreneurs. But pressing questions still loomed large about whether or not and just how the firm should expand. Both co-founders, Kola Masha and his wife Lola, were determined to scale an economically viable enterprise that was not entirely reliant on impact capital. Still, they would need some of that capital in order to make expansion a reality. Did their business model have the right features to scale up and thrive even in the long run? Would their pitch to impact investors and beyond be convincing enough to raise the capital they needed to meet their goal of reaching one million Nigerian farmers by 2025?

Keywords

Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

Citation

Fabbe, Kristin, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou, and Thomaz Teodorovicz. "Babban Gona: Great Farm." Harvard Business School Case 722-027, November 2021. (Revised December 2022.)
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About The Authors

Kristin E. Fabbe

Business, Government and the International Economy
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Tarun Khanna

Strategy
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Caroline M. Elkins

Business, Government and the International Economy
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Related Work

    • November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
    • Faculty Research

    Babban Gona: Great Farm

    By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz
Related Work
  • Babban Gona: Great Farm By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz
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