Plateau State, Nigeria

When Women Grow,
Communities Heal.

We train forcibly displaced young girls and women in climate-smart agriculture — turning farming skills into permanent income, and idle land into thriving growing spaces.

See How It Works → Partner With Us
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105 Young Girls and Women Trained
80% Found Employment or Became Independent Producers
$95K+ Revenue Generated Since 2021
75% Gross Margin — Sustained 4 Years
Who We Are

A farm. A school.
A second chance.

The Victoria Women's Community Project is a climate-smart social enterprise in Jos, Plateau State. We exist at the intersection of conflict recovery, sustainable agriculture and gender inclusion.

Greenhouse farming at Victoria Women's Community Project
Woman weighing produce at harvest

In Plateau State, thousands of young girls and women have been forcibly displaced by violent conflict. They are farmers without farms — skilled, resilient, and excluded from the land they once worked.

We provide them with greenhouse growing spaces, organic inputs, entrepreneurship training and direct market access — everything needed to start earning, in one programme designed specifically for them.

Our training runs for 3 to 6 months then graduates receive a growing space, inputs and access to our established buyer network of wholesalers and HoReCas (Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes) across Plateau State. They repay a percentage of earnings quarterly thereby keeping the model self-sustaining without donor dependency.

"This programme saved my kids." — Mrs. A, Programme Graduate

The Challenge

Three problems.
One solution.

Conflict, climate and exclusion have combined to push displaced young girls and women out of productive work. Existing systems address none of it completely.

🌍

Land Without Farmers

Displaced young girls and women have farming knowledge but no land access in host communities. Discrimination and lack of legal protection shut them out of the very livelihoods they know.

🌧️

Climate Destroying Harvests

Illegal mining and deforestation have degraded thousands of hectares across Plateau State. Unpredictable rainfall and soil erosion make open-field farming increasingly unreliable.

📦

Relief Without Recovery

Government and NGO support focuses on short-term relief — food parcels and cash transfers that don't build lasting income. Women need economic independence, not indefinite dependency.

Our Model

How we turn
land into livelihoods.

A three-phase model that moves young girls and women from displacement to economic independence — while generating real commercial revenue at every stage.

01

Train

Each cohort of 6–10 young girls and women trains for 3–6 months in greenhouse farming, organic soil management, composting, bio-pesticide application, financial literacy and small business management. Training happens on our working farm — so while they learn, they produce vegetables we sell commercially.

3–6 Month Programme
Women training in greenhouse
02

Grow

After graduation, each young girl or woman receives a greenhouse growing space, organic inputs, seeds and irrigation support. She plugs directly into our established buyer network of 4 wholesale distributors and 6 HoReCas. One graduate now earns over ₦1,000,000 annually from her growing space.

Independent Production
Organic bell pepper growing
03

Sustain

Graduates repay a percentage of quarterly earnings to cover inputs provided — replacing donor dependency with a self-sustaining cost-recovery cycle. Young girls and young girls and women are resettled within two years with a starter pack of inputs and continued market access. The farm funds the training. The training grows the farm.

Self-Sustaining Cycle
Harvested organic peppers
Our Network

Backed by partners
who invest in women-led growth.

The Victoria Women's Community Project is backed by grants and partnerships from institutions funding climate-smart agriculture and women's economic inclusion across Nigeria.

Goshen Impact Fund
Bank of Industry
MTN Foundation
BeGreen Africa
Clean Technology Hub
Women in Africa / The Coca-Cola Foundation
Tomato greenhouse interior
Woman planting seedlings
New seedling emerging
Bell pepper greenhouse rows
Meet the Founder

Built from
lived experience.

Ebelechukwu Joan Onaku

Eby Onaku

Founder & CEO

In 2008, I was displaced from my home in Jos during the crisis. My farm was destroyed, our house was burnt, and my uncle was killed. I rebuilt because I had a degree, family support and options, while the young girls and women I now serve had none of those things.

Years later, sitting with five young girls and women in an IDP camp, I heard something that stayed with me. They didn't ask for money. They said they are farmers who wanted to care for their families but had been shut out of farming.

This conversation became The Victoria Women's Community Project. I bring with me 15 years of corporate sales discipline from British American Tobacco, Guinness Nigeria and Japan Tobacco International, and a BSc. in Geography and Planning that taught me to see land as a system. Both shape how we build.

Vital Voices Grow Fellow EIT Food WE LEAD Acumen Academy Mass Challenge Nigeria MTN Foundation Womenpreneur Coca-Cola Foundation WIA / Jamii Femme Fate Foundation African Management Institute Honoris United Universities Meta Certified CISCO Certified
Our People

Meet the
Team.

A team of 4 full-time professionals, supporting the founder, with deep expertise across agribusiness, finance, logistics, operations and social enterprise — backed by a combined 30+ years of relevant experience.

Co-Founder/Head of Finance

Uche Ibemesi

7 years in accounting — FCMB

Guarantees financial controls and manages financial statements and performance.

BSc. Accounting, National Open University

Head of Operations

Jude Izuchukwu

10 years in management — Evergreen Ltd.

Ensures productivity, best operational practices, tech adoption and team collaboration.

BSc. Accounting, University of Jos

Head of Logistics

Chi Onaku

5 years in logistics — Nakus Ltd and Ifex

Ensures efficient, cost-effective movement of produce through planning and process control.

BSc. Economics, Madonna University

Head of Social Enterprise

Chalnan Chirpen

7+ years — GIZ, World Food Programme, International Potato Centre

Responsible for strategic planning, fundraising and mission alignment.

MA Peace & Conflict, University of Jos

Global Alignment

Advancing the UN
Sustainable Development Goals.

Every greenhouse we build and every young girl or woman we train moves the needle on three of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals — each one anchored in women's economic empowerment.

Learn more about the UN Sustainable Development Goals →
Work With Us

Ready to grow
something together?

Partner, invest or learn more

We are actively seeking investment, institutional partnerships and programme collaborations to scale our model across Plateau State and beyond. Reach out directly — we respond to every message.

elcornelbizent@gmail.com
Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

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