About the Programme

TransComs did not begin in a boardroom. The framework draws on decades of applied research into how rural communities industrialise — or fail to — across Africa and Asia. It is informed by the work of the Foundation for Technology Innovation and Sustainable Development (FTID) and its Chairman, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, whose career spans the African Development Bank, the United Nations, and leading research institutions across three continents.

The evidence is consistent: isolated interventions — a road here, a market stall there — do not move the needle on rural poverty. What works is the cluster model: co-locating complementary infrastructure so that the whole becomes more valuable than the sum of its parts. TransComs is that model, adapted for the specific crops, cooperatives, and community structures of Southwest Nigeria.

The Southwest Development Commission (SWDC) has formally approved a pilot TransCom site in Ogbomoso, Oyo State and serves as the government anchor for the programme, bringing institutional legitimacy and coordination authority across six Southwest states.

Traditional authorities, including the royal household of HRM the Soun of Ogbomoso, have endorsed the programme and are integral to community governance at the pilot sites. Commercial partners Imni Global and Nexium Exports anchor the Ogbomoso site, providing processing demand and market access for local farmers.