About Matura Agro
The Rare Combination
No One Saw Coming
A technocrat. Horse lover. Software Engineer. MIT-trained entrepreneur. Fintech builder. Central bank insider. Then, against all expectation — a farmer. But not just any farmer.
ABDULSALAM UMAR - The Founder
MIT · Technology · Farming
“I’ve built payment systems that processed billions of naira. I’ve worked at the table where monetary policy was shaped. But the most complex system I’ve ever tried to engineer is a self-sustaining agricultural value chain in northern Nigeria. That’s the challenge I chose. And it’s the one I intend to solve.”
— Abdulsalam Umar
The Founder’s Arc
Early Life
Roots in Purpose
Raised in northern Nigeria, Abdulsalam developed a deep passion for horses from an early age. His fascination went beyond admiration — it became a personal pursuit to understand how to properly care for and nourish them. In a region where quality feed was often inconsistent or scarce, he found himself constantly searching for the best nutrition to keep his horses healthy and strong.
Education
From Engineer to Entrepreneur.
Trained as a software engineer and later shaped by the MIT entrepreneurship ecosystem, he developed the systems-thinking and execution discipline that define his approach to complex challenges — from building financial systems to scaling agricultural production across thousands of hectares.
Technology Career
From Infrastructure to Systems Thinking
Built and scaled payment platforms and fintech infrastructure within Nigeria's rapidly evolving digital economy — founding startups, navigating both successes and failures, and refining a resilient, execution-driven approach. This journey extended to working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria, where he gained firsthand insight into monetary policy, financial regulation, and system-wide reform — shaping his understanding that real impact comes not just from building products, but from transforming entire industries at scale.
Present
Return to the Land. At Scale.
Identified Nigeria's livestock feed gap as a critical structural opportunity with no reliable domestic solution. Drawing on his background in software engineering, MIT-trained entrepreneurship, and deep systems thinking from fintech and policy exposure, he set out to solve it at scale. Matura Agro was born — not just as a farm, but as a platform to transform feed production and strengthen the livestock ecosystem.
Mission
To revolutionize Nigeria’s agriculture through sustainable, technology-driven production that ensures feed security and shared prosperity.
Nigeria imports an enormous volume of livestock feed and raw agricultural inputs annually. We are building the domestic infrastructure to replace that dependency with local production — at commercial scale, to world-class standards, and with a model that creates shared prosperity across the communities we work in.
Vision
To build Nigeria’s leading, scalable agricultural platform for sustainable feed production.
A fully integrated, technology-enabled agricultural platform anchoring a new industry in Nigeria. The roadmap extends to 100,000 hectares across northern Nigeria — and the architecture being built now, in Jigawa State, is engineered to be replicated. The agronomic methodology, the community integration model, the supply chain infrastructure: all of it is being documented and stress-tested so that what succeeds here defines what becomes possible across West Africa.
What We Stand For
Engineering Rigour
Every decision is data-informed. Every process is optimised. We treat farming as an engineering discipline.
Community First
We don't extract from communities — we build with them. Local youth, women, and farmers are our most important stakeholders.
Long-Term Thinking
We're not building for the next harvest. We're building for the next generation of Nigerian agriculture.
Radical Transparency
With our investors, partners, workers, and customers — we say what we mean, and we mean what we say.
Our Team
The People Making It Happen
A team combining world-class technical expertise, deep agricultural experience, and unwavering commitment to Nigeria's agricultural transformation.
Ready to Build Something
That Matters?
Whether you’re an investor, a government partner, an offtaker, or an institution — if you’re serious about Nigeria’s agricultural future, we want to hear from you.
Start the Conversation