Dr. Steve Ogidan, mni

Dr. Steve Olusegun Ogidan’s journey stands as one of Africa’s most compelling examples of how leadership, innovation, and resilience can transform lives at scale. His commitment to expanding financial access for the rural poor has reshaped the microfinance and agricultural landscape across multiple African nations. As Team Leader for three consecutive Federal Government of Nigeria / IFAD Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (FGN-IFAD-RUFIN) Supervision Missions between 2010 and 2013, Dr. Ogidan led evaluation team to assess a $40 million initiative that revolutionized financial inclusion for underserved communities across 12 states. Under his leadership, the programme channelled more than N40 billion directly to rural households and established 2,320 savings groups, empowering women, youth, and persons with disabilities who had long been excluded from the formal financial system. The results were extraordinary: group savings grew from N165 million to N1.78 billion, while the average savings per member increased sixfold, from N3,699 to N23,018.

His tenure as Team Leader of the ITC/ILO International Experts Team between 2010 and 2013 further expanded his continental impact. He oversaw the creation of the first comprehensive Training Curriculum and Manuals on Access to Finance for Workers and Trade Unions in Africa, an initiative that recognized the potential of workers’ organizations to serve as effective intermediaries in delivering financial services to low-income earners. This visionary approach not only advanced financial literacy but also empowered thousands of Africans to engage more confidently with formal financial systems.

Between 2016 and 2023, Dr. Ogidan’s leadership was once again transformative through his coordination of NIRSAL’s Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Offices across all 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory. This initiative became the largest agricultural extension service in Nigeria’s history, deploying over 1,000 university graduates to all 774 Local Government Areas. Through this vast network, modern agronomic practices, financial literacy programmes, and value-chain linkages reached smallholder farmers nationwide, revolutionizing agricultural productivity and sustainability. His expertise continued to guide IFAD’s Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) in Nigeria, which targets 15,000 smallholder households across nine states to strengthen the cassava and rice value chains. In September 2025, he delivered a groundbreaking intervention, training 1,077 VCDP-AF1 leaders of women and youth networks on policy engagement and advocacy. This large-scale mobilization empowered local leaders to secure actionable policy commitments, ensuring that agricultural investments endure long after donor funding cycles conclude.

Beyond Nigeria, Dr. Ogidan’s influence has rippled across Africa through South-South knowledge transfer and institutional innovation. As the Team  Lead in 2018, he helped design and launch Togo’s MIFA-TIRSAL, a risk-sharing mechanism that has disbursed 27 billion CFAF (about $47 million) to agricultural actors, created over 274,000 jobs, supported more than 200,000 producers, and structured 1,450 cooperatives. In 2024, as Lead Consultant and Team Leader for the African Development Bank, he designed the Skills for Employment and Entrepreneurship Development Programme for the Republic of Angola, a nationwide framework to build job-ready skills for the next generation. Simultaneously, his multi-year engagement with the FAO on Blended Finance and De-Risking Mechanisms for Agriculture (Angola 2021–2024, Mozambique 2022–2024) has helped unlock commercial capital for agricultural growth through sovereign-backed guarantees and technical assistance systems.

Dr. Ogidan’s advisory reach extends to South Africa and beyond, introducing innovative financing models that merge economic development with social impact. As President of the Turnaround Management Association (Nigeria Chapter) and Managing Director of Successory Nigeria Limited, he continues to bridge academic excellence with practical implementation, drawing from executive education at Harvard Business School, Columbia, and Wharton. His authored works, Succeeding Amidst the Odds: Practical Business Development Strategies for MFIs and Enhancing Food Security in Nigeria through Agricultural Development Programmes, have become essential resources for development professionals across the continent.

Through each chapter of his career, Dr. Steve Ogidan has remained driven by a singular vision, to expand financial inclusion, strengthen agricultural resilience, and build systems that empower Africa’s most vulnerable communities. His journey exemplifies what it means to redefine success not by personal gain but by the millions of lives uplifted through innovation, collaboration, and purpose-driven leadership.