Funmilayo Ishola
Dehydrator Hub Agrifood Technology Limited
In Nigeria, high post-harvest losses, limited processing infrastructure, and export compliance barriers continue to keep farmers and Agri-SMEs from capturing the full value of their produce.
Turning food waste into market opportunity
Dehydrator Hub Agrifood Technology Limited is building the missing midstream layer for food manufacturing in Nigeria. Founded by Funmilayo Ishola, whose understanding of food systems began in Boundary Market, Lagos, the venture responds to a problem she first saw as a child: fresh produce spoiling before it could reach consumers, while farmers and traders lost income.
After rebuilding from personal loss and seeing Nigerian food products rejected for export because of processing and compliance gaps, she created Dehydrator Hub to turn food waste into opportunity and help small producers access higher-value markets.
Better infrastructure for food processing
Dehydrator Hub uses hybrid solar-powered dehydration to transform perishable fruits, vegetables, legumes, and tubers into shelf-stable, high-margin ingredients. Its Processing-as-a-Service model removes the need for Agri-SMEs, especially women-led enterprises, to invest in expensive equipment of their own.
By combining industrial-grade machinery, hands-on vocational training, regulatory compliance support, and marketplace access, Dehydrator Hub helps small producers preserve food, meet NAFDAC and FDA standards, and enter stronger regional value chains. The model is now moving from regional prototype to national infrastructure, with a long-term ambition to establish hubs across Nigeria’s 776 local government areas.
Key enterprise results
food rescued
income increase for farmers
women trained in food processing and entrepreneurship
Dehydrator Hub Agrifood Technology Limited is building climate-smart food processing infrastructure that helps farmers and women-led Agri-SMEs turn perishable produce into lasting value.
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