Dozy Mmobuosi: Serial Entrepreneur Revolutionising Tech,  African Food Industry

Nigerian-born UK serial entrepreneur, Dozy Mmobuosi might be known to many as the CEO of Tingo International Holdings Incorporation, an investment company focused on identifying and making targeted acquisitions in the technology sector, but he is much more than that. The tech entrepreneur is the founder and CEO of Tingo Inc., Africa’s Agri-Fintech company; Tingo Remit, a financial services holding company; and NWASSA, a platform dedicated to African farmers. Recently, it was reported that Mmobuosi was close to completing a £90 million takeover of English football club Sheffield United, but perhaps, his greatest achievement yet is proving his roots with the groundbreaking of his multi-million Tingo Food Factory right in his hometown, Onicha-Ugbo in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that the project, which costs 1. 6 billion dollars, is intended to save Africa from paying foreign exchange to import finished food products, as well as aid the export of made in Africa foods to the world

On a certain Tuesday this month,  Onicha-Ugbo, an agrarian town located in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria, was agog.

Unbridled joy rippled across the entire town as they witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of Tingo Food Factory from Tingo Foods, a subsidiary of Tingo International Holdings Incorporation.

Championing this notable project is none other than Dozy Mmobuosi, a son of the soil, whose quest to set up the food processing facility in Delta State, will turn the fortunes of the community and Nigeria at large.

Groundbreaking in Delta 

It was pomp and ceremony at the ground breaking of the first of its kind multi-million Tingo Foods Processing factory in Ishiekpe village Onicha-Ugbo.The groundbreaking was attended by eminent persons from  government and industry across Nigeria, including the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar; the monarch of Onicha-Ugbo host community, HRM Obi Chukwumalieze 1; President General of Onicha-Ugbo Patriotic Union, Barr Peter Kogolo and other respected chiefs of the town.

Revolutionising African Food Industry 

According to Mmobuosi, the project which costs 1. 6 billion USD will also save Africa from paying foreign exchange to import finished food products. 

Additionally it will aid the export of made in Africa foods to the world enhance inter Africa trade via the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and sell high quality and nutritious food products in Nigeria.

Mmobuosi, an iconic tech guru is making the massive investment as a way of giving back to his birth place, Delta. He has vowed to revolutionise the African Food Industry and create direct employment for the teeming youths in Nigeria, providing a significant boost to the Nigerian economy and contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

His entrance into the sector is promising given that the African food processing industry has thrived in snail pace, with low productivity and poor usage of human capital.

Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated land to grow high-value nutritious foods, and if African governments can work more closely with agribusinesses to feed the region’s fast-growing urban population, according to a new World Bank report launched recently.

According to the Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness report, Africa’s food systems, currently valued at US$313 billion a year from agriculture, could triple if governments and business leaders radically rethink their policies and support to agriculture, farmers, and agribusinesses, which together account for nearly 50 percent of Africa’s economic activity.

Due to a combination of population growth, rising incomes and urbanization, strong demand is driving global food and agricultural prices higher. This is where Mmobuosi comes in. 

Expected to begin operations in the next 18 to 24 months, Mmobuosi noted that the facility is the first phase of a multi-billion dollar investment that Tingo International Holdings plans to make in the African food industry.

The company would decongest the labour market with the creation of no fewer than 12,000 direct employments with the setting up of its food processing facility in Delta State.

Potential Incursion into Football Investment 

Beyond tech and agriculture, Mmobuosi has ventured into the world of sports- football to be precise. He is said to be close to buying English Football League club Sheffield United at a £90 million takeover.

According to The Times, the 43-year-old  will be subject to the EFL’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test given that Sheffield United has faced a great financial crisis and Mmobuosi, who is valued at $7.6 billion, can complete the acquisition of the club after making a larger deposit of the money.

About Dozy Mmobuosi 

According to Wikipedia, the Bachelor of Science in Political Science graduate from Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, also had his Master of Science degree in Economics from the same university.

However, for his doctorate, he did Rural Advancement from Universiti Putra Malaysia. He went further to complete the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford in 2022.

As part of his foray into tech, Mmobuosi in 2001 founded Tingo Mobile to bring mobile technology and Fintech solutions to rural communities in Nigeria.Two years later, he founded Najafans, a social media connectivity platform in Nigeria.

In January 2019, he launched Nwassa, a digital Agri-Marketplace that is Africa’s first agricultural technology and digital platform where it utilises technology to provide farmers with accurate weather forecasts, payment systems, live information on market prices and access to other service providers for lending and pension solutions.

Reports also had it that in 2022, Tingo, Inc. executed an agreement to merge and consolidate its operations with MICT, Inc, to enable the combined technology stack of both Tingo and MICT to create one of the world’s leading fully integrated fintech platforms given that Tingo, Inc. already had over 9.3 million subscribers for its Agri-Fintech services.

With the aim of developing African leaders skills to help them transform their private and public sector services, in December 2022, Mmobuosi unveiled the Dozy Mmobuosi Leadership Centre (DMLC), in Oxford, United Kingdom.

He also launched his own personal foundation, the Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation, aimed to support Africans across multiple sectors including education and healthcare, and facilitate social empowerment by solving key structural challenges present on the continent.

Through Tingo Mobile, he has also awarded the first of a series of grants from a dedicated fund, totalling approximately $6m, which aim to empower female smallholder farmers in Nigeria as part of the company’s wider ambitions to tackle inequality in Africa.

Mmobuosi might be set to conquer the world but his roots to Nigeria, as well as Africa, always bring him home to chart workable and sustainable solutions to the continent’s wide range challenges, either in tech, agriculture or even leadership.