Akinyinka Akintunde, Business Development Manager at AFEX during the first EdEX Workshop
In July 2019, AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited introduced EdEx – a learning platform aiming to educate the public about investing in agricultural commodities in Nigeria, with an ambition to helping to solve the need for more capital from both retail and institutional sources for this sector of strategic importance for the country.
EdEX includes online and in person training, and it is designed to reach various audiences with different learning needs. Key target groups include institutional and retail investors, brokers and smallholder farmers. To investors and brokers, the platform offers content about membership procedure, market access, trading strategies and community engagement.
Participants at the first EdEX workshop
For smallholder farmers, a “train the trainer” model has been developed around good agricultural practices. A workshop has been conducted and one is planned before the end of the year, and an e-learning video library is being rolled out with content developed by in-house experts and partners from around the globe.
EdEX aims to direct financing for Nigerian agriculture towards smallholder farmers and other value chain actors by enhancing the understanding of portfolio managers, fund managers, analysts, traders, brokers and risk managers of the commodities market, and fostering
the development of innovative financing structures for Nigerian agriculture. At the same time, content designed for smallholder farmers is expected to contribute to raising productivity and efficiency in the agriculture sector in Nigeria, thereby increasing its appeal to financial investors.
