Welcome to ProVeg Nigeria
Check out the latest news about us, or scroll on to learn more about our many exciting initiatives across Nigeria.
Nigeria kicks off a plant-based revolution to shift nation to climate-friendly diet
A new food awareness organisation has been launched in Nigeria today called ProVeg Nigeria, which aims to promote healthy and tasty food that is both climate and animal-friendly.
After Afrobeat and Nollywood, plant-based food is the next cultural hit from Nigeria
New ProVeg Nigeria office to usher in plant-based lifestyle into Nigerian hospitals, schools, markets, and kitchens country-wide.
Plant-based diets in a plant-rich country
Nigeria is a tropical African country home to various many varied plant species – about 7,895 across 338 families and 2,215 genera. So it is no surprise to find people on plant-based diets.
Affordable, tasty, high-protein, and calcium-packed plant-based Nigerian recipes
As a vegan, when asked how I get enough protein and calcium without animal products, it brings a smile to my face.
Just how accessible and satisfying a plant-based diet can be in Nigeria
Before transitioning to a plant-based diet, I was under the impression that it was an expensive and unsatisfying lifestyle, especially in this part of the world.
What we do, why, & how
Nigeria is kicking off a plant-based revolution!
ProVeg Nigeria is all about eating tasty and healthy food that is both climate and animal-friendly, and will be heralding this message, from the Atlantic coastal city of Lagos, with its 25 million inhabitants, to the Sahel region below the Sahara desert.
The team will bring delicious plant-based food sampling to where the people are, in markets, streets, schools, and hospitals. Additionally, everyone can participate in the ProVeg Nigeria will be kicking off its first Veggie Challenge, which is free and available for anyone to participate, as they take their first steps towards more plant-based eating with Naija style recipes.
Other ProVeg initiatives in Nigeria
Corporate & Institutional Engagement
ProVeg Nigeria is working on developing its B2B program. However, the team has already been collaborating with the medical professional community for years.
Medical Professional Community & Health Outreach
A plant-based diet helps solve a number of problems. One is health. In the latest IPCC report, the UN is urging people to eat more green. An overconsumption of animal products has proven to lead to an increase in cancer, heart disease, and obesity risks.
ProVeg Nigeria is working together internationally with the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN). Also VegMed is one of the largest medical conferences on plant-based nutrition, bringing together international scientists and health professionals.
School Outreach
Through our school outreach programs, we’ve reached over 18,500 students in over 50 schools across three states, showing them why and how to adopt a plant-based diet in Nigeria. And we’re just getting started!
We also support community initiatives, such as meetups and Vegfest Ibadan, where we have reached 100 restaurants and trained 150 chefs, producing 15,000 pre-booked plant-based meals per month.
If you would like us to come to your school and tell the children, teachers, and parents more about healthy, plant-based eating, please contact us.
Food Business Outreach
Food businesses play a crucial role in changing consumer behaviour as well as making alternative proteins known. More and more hotels, restaurants, eateries, and ‘bukkas’ are seeing opportunities in offering more plant-based meals on their menu.
Are you a restaurant owner or chef and would like to know more about plant-based eating? Please reach out to us.
Food Innovation
ProVeg Nigeria wants to boost the plant-based ecosystem in the country. We are collaborating with businesses like VeggieVictory, Nigeria’s Vegan food company, which was recently ranked in the global FoodTech 500 leading companies.
Our work on innovation in the plant-based and cultivated food space also includes start-ups based in Nigeria that have participated in ProVeg’s Incubator program. For example,
Casa Vegan aims to be the go-to African brand for plant-based alternatives. Their products are made with local and upcycled ingredients. Their current portfolio consists of plant-based mince, chunks, and burgers.
To learn more about the Incubator program and other start-ups that have taken part in our program, visit our Incubator site.
Policy & Advocacy
Food security, food waste, and nutrition are already huge topics in Nigeria and across the African continent.
ProVeg Nigeria wants to raise awareness about the need to transform the food system into healthier, more climate-friendly diets. The people who benefit the most are those in the Global South for whom land pressures from animal agriculture will force them off their land.
We work towards bringing stakeholders in Nigeria’s nutrition space to brainstorm innovative solutions for creating a more sustainable food system. By engaging with crucial health influencers such as doctors, nurses, and nutritionists, we aim to build a network of advocates who can lobby for policies that support access to healthy and affordable food choices that benefit all Nigerians, the environment, and the animals.
For example, the Chinese government recently announced a Five-Year Plan that sets forth a national strategy toward a better food system that describes its intent to bolster innovation in the plant-based egg, milk, and protein spaces.
ProVeg Nigeria will work towards a policy change that goes in a similar direction.ProVeg Nigeria is part of ProVeg International which is campaigning to replace animal consumption with alternative protein by 50% by 2040.
Are you a stakeholder and would like to know more? Please reach out to us:
Movement Building
ProVeg Nigeria is working towards a vibrant plant-based ecosystem. Capacity building is at the heart of that community. Join the plant-powered movement and empower yourself to live a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle!
Whether you are in Sokoto, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Enugu, Ibadan, Lagos, or Abuja, let’s connect! Groups from different angles are coming together: climate action, nutrition, animal compassion, smallholder farmers.
Public Engagement & Media
Chef Bola’s Kitchen
Learn with Chef Bola Adeyanju how easy and delicious it is to incorporate plant-based proteins into traditional Nigerian cuisine.
You can make all the typical Nigerian food like Suya, Asun, even Nkwobi and stews like Egusi and Efo Riro and of course Jollof Rice all in a mouth-watering plant-based style. We will be cooking up these treats – possibly in a market or university near you – or tell us where we should come to, and then get a taste of how great plant-based life can be.
Chef Bola has worked as an inspiring Ambassador for Chefs for Change. Chefs for Change International promotes chefs and cooks willing to discover and promote plant-forward cuisine. The project was launched in March 2019 in Poland.
The Chefs for Change project was inaugurated in Poland in March 2019. Initially it was a series of plant-based charity dinners that brought together the best Polish chefs who support the idea of more responsible cooking and promoting delicious cuisine without animal products.
As the project was a big success in Poland, it soon went to an international level. The goal is to build a supportive community of chefs and cooks to inspire, educate, and encourage restaurants and dining facilities worldwide to start offering plant-based meals.
After talking to many chefs and cooks, Chefs for Change realised that all have the same goal. Scientists all over the world are finally coming to an agreement on the fact that plant-based diets are healthier and more environmentally friendly than the ones based mostly on animal products. In the latest IPCC report, the UN is urging people to eat more green, and overconsumption of animal products has proven to lead to an increase in cancer, heart disease, and obesity risks.
Are you a restaurant or food business owner and interested to learn more about plant-based cooking? We would love to hear from you:
Meet the ProVeg Nigeria team
ProVeg Nigeria has its roots in organising the Lagos Veg Fest. Following its massive popularity, the team expanded its work beyond Lagos and was renamed Naija Veg. Under this banner the team has developed various programs and campaigns to help spread awareness about the benefits of plant-based diets. Meet the team!
Hakeem Jimo, Director
Hakeem is passionate about Africa and plant-based living. He is convinced that both together will bring unseen opportunities for the people, animals and nature on the continent.
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Marybeth Ubanwa
Meet Marybeth, the Communication and Campaign Manager for Proveg Nigeria. She went from wrangling professors as a university department secretary to wrangling veggies as a plant-based crusader.
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Bola Adeyanju
Bola is a plant-based chef and entrepreneur. She is passionate about bringing the local cuisine to the next level by going plant-based.
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We always love to hear from you. Please share ideas, comments, feedback: