“We have been able to work with over a thousand farmers in northwest and north central Nigeria, connecting them with buyers because market access is one of their biggest challenges.”
Jummai Victor Tela
In this interview, Joyce Nwezeh speaks with Jummai Victor Tela, the founder and CEO of Top City Enterprises Limited, a woman-led agribusiness based in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Jummai shares her journey into agribusiness, her impact in empowering rural women, her vision for sustainable agricultural transformation, and how recognition such as the PAWES 2025 nomination strengthens her mission.
Jummai Victor Tela
My name is Jummai, and I am the founder and CEO of Top City Enterprises Limited. It’s a woman-led agribusiness based in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. At Top City, we are engaged in diverse kinds of agribusiness. We are into agro-commodity trading. We are also into solar power, cold storage as a service, and we also work with rural farmers, especially women, connecting them to the market and creating business opportunities for them in the agri-sector.
What inspired you to go into the agricultural sector?
Jummai Victor Tela
A lot of things inspired me into the agribusiness that I am in today. Let me just make my story brief.
It all began in 2009. I started a farm behind my house, growing food, vegetables, and selling at the farmer’s market. And, you know, in Africa, in Northern Nigeria, you hardly find women doing this kind of business. Agribusiness in Northern Nigeria is dominated by men.
I was taking my fresh produce to the market and I was always offered unfair prices. Not only me—so many other women were also facing these challenges. I looked at it. I was farming as a business to make money, to meet needs. But each time I took the produce to the market, I got unfair prices.
I wanted to give up. But thank God I didn’t.
There was an advert by the National Trade Council training women in agribusiness. I applied. From there, that training inspired me to pursue entrepreneurship. We were exposed to so many opportunities, including agro-commodity exporting.
I continued farming but this time, I was also sourcing agro-commodities from farmers. I became an agro-commodity broker connecting farmers to buyers. That training opened me up to exporters and I began sourcing.
As I kept growing, I was exposed to more opportunities. I had training in clean energy. I had partners ready to deploy solar freezers to women cooperatives. At Top City, we also run a cooperative that empowers rural women with solar solutions.
What really inspired me to work with rural women and supply them with solar freezers and cold rooms was the post-harvest losses we experienced. Sometimes we sourced agro-commodities from rural communities, and because the shelf life decreases, off-takers refused to buy.
So I started a cooperative for women in communities where we buy fresh vegetables like tomatoes and peppers. We have such cooperatives in Sokoto and in Nasarawa State.
All these challenges inspired me to go fully into agribusiness. My inspiration has brought a lot of innovation and opportunities, helping us at Top City add value and make impact in the lives of rural women and farmers, especially in reducing post-harvest losses.
What meaningful impact have you made in your career?
Jummai Victor Tela
Firstly, one of the impacts I have been able to make through my company and the cooperatives is that we are working with over a thousand farmers in northwest and north central Nigeria.
We have been able to connect them with buyers. Market access is one of their biggest challenges.
For the cooperatives, we have achieved a lot. We work with female farmers, grouping them into cooperatives. We have about six cooperatives where women are trained on leadership, business development, and market access.
We have equipped them with solar-powered freezers and cold rooms. Helping them make money gives me joy.
There were communities that initially looked impossible to work with, but with persistence and innovation, we succeeded. Their income has increased. They’ve adapted to new technologies. Leadership training has helped them.
The gender inclusion in what we do is something we are proud of. These are some of the impacts, and we hope to do even more.
How would winning PAWES 2025 help you drive more change?
Jummai Victor Tela
Winning the award will help me and the company make more impact. It will give us an opportunity to showcase what we are doing in rural communities in Northern Nigeria.
Our voices have not been heard enough. Being part of the PAWES platform, which uplifts and creates opportunities for women, will showcase us to the world and attract more opportunities for the farmers we work with.
This award will also showcase Northern Nigeria and highlight the opportunities in the agricultural sector. I believe it will be a gateway for us.
What is your growth strategy for sustainability?
Jummai Victor Tela
One of our major strategies is partnership.
We have benefited from many partnerships. When we wanted to deploy solar freezers, we didn’t have the funds, but partnerships made it possible. Partnerships have created market access and provided rural farmers with technologies.
We are open to innovations, especially technologies suitable for rural communities.
Inclusion—especially gender inclusion—is another strategy for sustainability.
In the next two to five years, we see ourselves empowering thousands of rural women across Nigeria.
Impact first is our philosophy at Top City, and that is our path to sustainability.
