User:Feyisara99/sandbox/Rasheed

Olakanmi Rasheed Sarumi (born 3rd Nov 1966) is an accomplished African entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is currently the Group CEO/Managing Director and Founder of Saroafrica International, a 31-year-old business conglomerate with interests in the Agricultural value chain and Consumer goods. Prior to this, he served as the pioneer Managing Director of Saro Agrosciences from inception in 1991 till 2010. https://saroafrica.com/leadership-team/

Early life and family
Rasheed’s parents were successful entrepreneurs and this tradition was passed on to him and his siblings. Rasheed spent most part of his formative years in Ilesa before proceeding to Government College, Ibadan (GCI) for his secondary school education. His passion & flair for entrepreneurship grew significantly during his time at GCI as he was fortunate to learn from an institution with great history & venerable leaders

Education
Rasheed is a graduate of Agricultural Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and an alumnus of Lagos Business School’s and Harvard Business School’s executive education program.

Career
Rasheed began his career in the Banking and Manufacturing Industries for a very short period before establishing Saro Agrosciences in 1991. He led the business to become one of the top players in the Crop Protection industry by 2010. During that period, Saro had diversified into commodity Exports and Consumer Goods. This led to the establishment of the holding group structure, Saroafrica International. Rasheed has led the Group as the pioneer Group Managing Director, a position he still holds to date.

Rasheed is passionate about strengthening the Agricultural industry in Nigeria. To this end, Saroafrica Group under his leadership has made multi-billion-naira investments in the cassava and oil palm value chains.

Awards & Achievement
Rasheed contributed significantly to the advancement of the Crop protection industry as the Pioneer General Secretary of CropLife, professional trade group representing the plant science industry in Nigeria. He later became the President of the Trade group from 2008 to 2010. Rasheed was also a key member of the Vision 2020 Implementation Committee (Nigeria) tasked with supporting Nigeria’s Agricultural transformation.

Furthermore, in recognition of his contributions to the Agricultural sector in Nigeria, Rasheed was inducted as a fellow in the Horticultural society of Nigeria in 2020. In recognition of his meritorious and immense contributions to the growth of the Agricultural & Environmental Engineering Department, Obafemi Awolowo University, Rasheed was awarded a Certificate of Meritorious Service at the 50th Anniversary of the department in November 2020.

Rasheed was the keynote speaker at the 2021 Agricultural Summit where he unveiled new and improved methods that can guarantee Food security and safety in Nigeria and Africa at Large.

Rasheed is the current chairman of the ESOPP investors group, which represents a coalition of seven oil palm investors in Edo State, Nigeria. With investments totalling over 100bn, the investors group is committed to boosting oil palm production and rejuvenating the sector for global competitiveness.

He was recently appointed by the Governor of Osun State, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, as one of the members of the 11-man committee charged to ensure the upgrade of the College of Education Ilesa to a full-fledged university. Rasheed currently facilitates courses on Strategy, Leadership and Family Governance in Lagos Business School. This enables him to groom and mentor young entrepreneurs and business managers.

Philanthropy
In, June 2013, Rasheed co-founded a Non-Profit, the Youth Advocacy Foundation with his spouse. The Youth Advocacy foundation started with the 1000 change agent Program in November 2013. The goal of the foundation is to create a sustainable pathway of support for youths from public senior secondary school level to Full Employment. So far, 392 students have benefited from the Secondary school scholarship, coaching and mentorship programs while 83 individuals have enjoyed the full university scholarship and mentorship programs, out of which 13 top ranking University graduates have emerged.

Personal Life
Rasheed Sarumi is married to Oluwatoyin Sarumi and has 3 children: Rasheed jr., Mukhtar and Farida.