Mr. Muyiwa Omololu

Mr. Muyiwa Omololu is the Founder & President for Alliance For Agriculture Corporation (AFAC). As Chief Executive Officer, Muyiwa Omololu provides leadership toward the achievement of the organization's mission and strategic goals. With a financial and investment background with Fortune 500 companies like Merrill Lynch and American Express, and driven by the slogan “Think globally, Act locally”; Muyiwa founded the Alliance for Agriculture Corporation which is located in the City of Visalia in Tulare County in Central California.

Impressed by the infrastructure of the agricultural counties of Central California and how the rest of the world, particularly Africa; could benefit from the expertise and systems here in terms of education, technology transfer and improved trade, the Alliance For Agriculture Corporation was conceived. Mr. Omololu is the CEO of Zachode Corporation, a Real Estate Development Company in Visalia. Through his contacts with city and county officials, he is able to harness the agricultural resources of Tulare county, which is the second most productive agricultural county in the United States, in furtherance of the objectives of AFAC. Working with a dedicated and motivated personnel, we bring new meaning to the term “team work”. There’s no substitute for the years of experience found in the leadership of AFAC, working together toward the achievement of the organization's mission and goals.

Muyiwa is dedicated to working out the synergies that would translate to agricultural self sufficiency and productivity in Africa. He is in very high level talks with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on how the Norman E. Borlaug Fellowship Program will include Nigeria as one of it’s annual recipients. The program provides short-term scientific training for international agricultural research scientists and policymakers from selected developing countries, among other worthy initiatives.

Dr. Bruce Roberts

Dr. Roberts has 20 years of extension experience in applied research and providing adult education programs. His research interest revolves around plant and soil ecology for sustainable management, including work in crop physiology, soil fertility, water management, pest control, pre-harvest application and harvest of agronomic crops. Precision agriculture has been an extension of his research interest in the last three years.

As county director and agronomy farm adviser for University of California Cooperative Extension in Kings County, has was named the first holder of the J.G. Boswell Endowed Chair in Plant Science at California State University, Fresno. The chair was created with a $1.2 million gift from the James G. Boswell Foundation of Pasadena. Dr. Roberts assumed the chair in August 2004. He provides a tremendous conduit for continuing the collaborative efforts that we have under way at California State University, Fresno and the USDA. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including 30 peer-reviewed publications and 80 non-peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Roberts is working the Alliance to have Nigeria included as one of the recipients of the USDA Norman Borlaug Fellowship Award. The program provides short-term scientific training for international agricultural research scientists and policymakers from selected developing countries. Each Fellow is assigned a mentor who will coordinate the Fellow’s training and visit the Fellow's host country after completion of the training. Training venues include U.S. land grant universities, USDA or other government agencies, private companies, not-for-profit institutions and international agricultural research centers. Dr. Roberts envisions his faculty at the California State University, Fresno going into an exchange program with Nigerian agricultural research scientists and policymakers under the sponsorship of the Norman Borlaug Fellowship Program.

Mr. Philip Falese