Beyond the Kitchen: Meet the female visionaries engineering Nigeria’s food value chain

These women are changing the way food is grown, made, and sold in Nigeria. The movement of food from farms to factories then markets…they are shaping the food system.

Every morning across Nigeria, millions of plates are filled with amala, rice, pap, vegetables, spices, and snacks. Behind many of these everyday meals are women whose work rarely makes the headlines.

A modest network of female entrepreneurs, ranging from cassava processors to fruit snack producers and food supply innovators, are contributing to Nigeria’s food supply while establishing companies that improve food security, support farmers, and create jobs.

As the world marks International Women’s Day, these women represent a growing force in Nigeria’s food economy.

Kehinde Kamson, the woman behind Sweet Sensation

Kehinde Kamson is one of the pioneers of Nigeria’s modern fast-food industry. In 1994 she launched Sweet Sensation Confectionery Limited from a backyard shed, which used to be the gateman’s house, in Ilupeju, Lagos. Sweet Sensation started with modest beginnings selling simple meals and snacks including pastries, chicken, rice and ice cream, over time it grew into one of Nigeria’s foremost Quick Service Restaurant brands.

31 years later, the business has since grown to become one of the most successful chain of Quick Service Restaurant businesses in Nigeria with over 25 outlets across the country, over 2,000 employees and over 60 arrays of meals that are served daily.

So YES, Kehinde Kamson is THAT woman who built a business from a small shed and held it up for 31 years while raising a family.

Her business helped redefine fast-food dining in the country, combining local dishes with international menus and creating thousands of jobs in the process.

Amoke Odukoya of Amoke Oge

Amoke Odukoya is the founder of the popular food brand Amoke Oge. She represents the rise of local food vendors into large-scale businesses. She started the amala restaurant with less than N200,000 and built it into one of the most successful traditional food businesses in Lagos.

She is referred to as The Amala Queen. Her brand operates multiple outlets and has become a major presence on food delivery platforms. In just three years, Amoke Oge completed over 500,000 food deliveries on the delivery platform Chowdeck, generating about N2.3 billion in sales.

Her restaurants serve classic Nigerian meals such as amala, ewedu and gbegiri to thousands of customers daily. The growth of Amoke Oge demonstates how traditional “buka-style” food businesses can evolve into large urban food enterprises while still keeping local dishes at the centre.

Affiong Williams, founder of ReelFruit

Williams is building a billion-naira dried fruit business

If you walk into a supermarket in Lagos or Abuja, you are likely to see packets of dried mangoes or coconut snacks produced by ReelFruit.

She founded ReelFruit with a simple idea: Nigeria grows plenty of fruit, yet much of it spoils after harvest.

Her solution was to process the fruit into packaged snacks.

Today, ReelFruit products are sold in hundreds of retail outlets across Nigeria and exported internationally, while the company works closely with farmers to improve crop quality and reduce post-harvest losses.

By creating a reliable market for farmers’ produce, the business helps turn fresh fruit into long-lasting food products while supporting rural livelihoods.

Oluyemisi Iranloye, founder of Psaltry International Company Limited.

In the town of Ado-Awaye in Oyo State, Iranloye’s processing plant is transforming one of Nigeria’s most common crops into high-value industrial products.

What began as a small agricultural project has grown into one of Nigeria’s most recognised cassava processing companies. The firm produces cassava starch, flour and glucose used by food and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

More importantly, Iranloye’s business has built a network that connects thousands of rural farmers to steady markets.

Her company directly supports over 100,000 farming families within a 200-kilometre radius of its plant, helping farmers earn income from cassava cultivation while supplying Nigerian industries with locally processed ingredients.

It is true that Nigeria imports many industrial food inputs, but businesses like hers are changing that equation.

She is turning cassava into a global industry

Ijeoma Ndukwe‑Egwuronu, founder of Bubez Foods

Egwuronu is the woman who industrialised pap

Pap, also known as akamu or ogi, is one of Nigeria’s most common breakfast foods.

But for decades it was mostly produced in homes or local markets.

That changed when Ijeoma Ndukwe-Egwuronu founded Bubez Foods, a business that processes packaged pap products made from corn and mixed grains.

Her company produces several variants of pap paste designed for convenience and longer shelf life, helping modernise a traditional staple.

The innovation may seem small, but it shows a bigger shift: Nigeria’s traditional foods are slowly moving into organised food manufacturing.

Olapeju Umah, founder of MyFoodAngels

Food insecurity in Nigeria sometimes has more to do with access than supply.

That problem inspired the creation of MyFoodAngels, founded by Umah.

The initiative helps households access food supplies while also supporting vulnerable communities.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, the platform helped distribute food to more than 3,000 families facing hardship, while building a community network of thousands of people committed to improving food access.

By combining technology, logistics and social impact, Umah’s work shows how food distribution itself can become an innovative business. She is in the business of connecting markets to families

Ada Osakwe, founder of Nuli

Ada Osakwe is the founder of Nuli, a healthy fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on African ingredients and nutritious meals.

Founded in 2016, Nuli aims to make healthy African food convenient and accessible while promoting locally sourced ingredients. The brand’s menu includes dishes built around traditional staples like beans, grains and vegetables, presented in modern formats such as bowls and wraps.

Asides the restaurant business, Osakwe’s model also supports farmer cooperatives, many of which are run by women, strengthening the connection between agriculture and the urban food market.

Her expansion plans include building an international African food brand, showing how Nigerian cuisine could scale globally.

Across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, women are everywhere.

They plant vegetables, process grains, sell food in markets, and run restaurants that feed entire communities.

Yet despite this presence, they often control only a small portion of farmland and receive limited access to finance and technology.

If these gaps were addressed, experts say women could play an even greater role in boosting Nigeria’s food production and agricultural exports.

For now, many continue to do the work quietly.

So everytime you pick up your bowl of pap or amala, packet of dried fruit, bag of cassava flour or walk into any restaurant, it tells a story, one of women building businesses that feed the nation.