Emmanuel Azaino

Emmanuel Azaino has extensive experience in the field of agriculture and economic growth. Emmanuel currently holds the position of Partnerships Director (R&D) at Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), where they manage a $10.8 million grant fund for agricultural research and innovation in West Africa. Prior to this, they served as the Head of Agriculture & Economic Growth at Catholic Relief Services in Abuja, Nigeria. Emmanuel was also the Senior Program Manager at Participatory Partnerships for Community Development (PPCD), where they managed Chevron-funded capacity development programs in the Niger Delta. Emmanuel has additionally worked as an Agricultural Interventions Specialist at Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), a Station Manager at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and an Agribusiness Advisor at Enterprise for Development International (EfDI). Before their career in the agricultural sector, Emmanuel was the Chief Operating Officer of Motmash Nigeria Limited, a catering and hotel support services company based in Lagos.

Emmanuel Azaino has a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Obafemi Awolowo University. Emmanuel then pursued a Master's degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Ibadan from 1997 to 1999. In 2017, they completed a certificate course titled "The Future of Farming- Exploring Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)" at the University of Reading. In 2015, they also obtained a certificate in "Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD)" from Wageningen University & Research. Emmanuel Azaino has furthered their education with various certificate courses, including one in "Agricultural Value Chain Finance" in 2016 from Connexus Corporation, one in "Project Monitoring and Evaluation" from IMA international-UK in 2008, and two training programs, "ProPack 1 Training" and "ProPack 2 Training" on project design, management, and implementation offered by Catholic Relief Services in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Recently, in 2022, they completed a certificate course on "Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians" called "Certificate in Environmental Compliance" offered by USAID's Environmental Compliance.