We send tweets and instagrams from the handle #TeamTomatoJos because we believe that a team approach is crucial to the success of our organization. Tomatoes need water and fertilizer to grow big and strong, but they can’t exactly feed themselves… someone needs to take care of our plants and nurture them as they mature. That someone is our team.
Our team stretches from Monday to Friday. You might be asking: “Now wait one tomato pickin’ minute - what does that mean?” Please allow us to introduce you the Tomato Jos team on our model farm in Nasarawa!
Monday’s child is fair of face…
Monday is our foreman on the farm. He is responsible for scheduling the roles and tasks for the day and ensuring that project plans remains on track. We wonder how he does it all. Monday has two wives and three children! Now that is quite a handful.
Oh me, oh my Danladi!
Danladi is the Tomato Jos fixer. He has been solving problems for the past three weeks, ever since we first hired him. Danladi, what’s wrong with the generator? Danladi, why don’t we have water? Danladi, why is it still raining outside? Danladi has a wise head on steady shoulders - he is the oldest member of our 5-man team in Nasarawa State at the venerable age of 30.
Ewa “Jack Sparrow” Ajayi
Ewa wanted nothing more in his life than to play for Manchester United. Unfortunately the Man U scouts never made it to Nasarawa, so Ewa now concentrates his efforts on the tomato field and in the greenhouse. His position on the Tomato Jos team is the equivalent of a goalkeeper on a soccer team. Ewa is responsible for keeping insets away from the plants - both in the greenhouse and on the fields.
Prince Philip
Philip is the youngest Tomato Jos employee at 19. However, he is wise beyond his years. He is helping identify smallholder tomato farmers in the locality who are interested in partnering with us for our trial season. Philip is well liked and well known in the local villages, and he has been crucial in introducing us to our first small cohort of farmers. He claims that his good nature and patience comes from his support for Arsenal – and his love for Aresnal knows no bounds. We know it’s still early days, but we’re hoping he feels the same way about Tomato Jos!
TGIF – Thank God it’s Friday!!
Friday is the longest serving employee of Tomato Jos, outside of our management team. He has been with us since our first week on the farm! Friday may look small, but he is an energizer bunny, and serves as the engine behind Tomato Jos on the ground. Over the past month, Friday has dug hundreds of meters of trenches, chopped down acres of bush, and watered thousands of seedlings – and he does it all in his own cheeky style. Friday wanted this audience to know, and just in case Arsene Wengner is reading, he is the biggest fan of Arsenal Football Club in the WORLD.
So you see, we really do operate from Monday to Friday! This is just the beginning of the #TeamTomatoJos – later this month, Bala will join our team as the farm manager, responsible for all aspects related to the growth of our tomatoes once they leave the greenhouse for the open field. And in December, we will welcome Al, our expert agronomist from California who will bring global knowledge and expertise to our farm manager hire we have also just signed an agronomist who will join us in Nasarawa State. We look forward to introducing them to you both soon!