Hans Nijhoff is a private sector development expert with a track record of over 20 years in the agriculture sector. He is an experienced project manager of multi-year projects in the local economic & agriculture market development, agribusiness finance & investment, and institutional development domains. His main interest is in business models for upscaling climate-smart agriculture (CSA), and in creating business clusters and Triple helix platforms to overcome blockages to growth. He has worked closely with hundreds of SME and large agribusiness companies, assisting them in the design and write-up of bankable business plans for development banks and investment funds. Related to this he has managed a major research project in six East African countries on the role of agribusiness SMEs as drivers for regional development. Hans Nijhoff is a part-time lecturer & trainer, of both students and professionals, on the key concepts of agribusiness management. He recently started his PhD on ‘success factors of innovation ecosystems to support climate-smart agriculture (CSA) farm operations’. He is senior expert with Maastricht School of Management.

Topic: Building 3H clusters to implement EU-funded agri-programs