Nigerian Food Revolution - Hakeem Jimo of Veggie Victory and ProVeg Nigeria - Sentientism 196

Sentientism

May 6 2024 • 51 mins

Hakeem Jimo is co-founder and CEO of Veggie Victory, Nigeria’s first plant-based food tech company. Hakeem and his partner, Bola Adeyanju, also founded Nigeria's first vegan restaurant, V Café, and now run the VChunks meat alternative product company - designed to help veganise Nigerian cuisine. Hakeem is also country director for ProVeg Nigeria.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”

Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

00:00 Clips!

00:36 Welcome

01:59 Hakeem's Intro

- Nigerian father, German mother, growing up in Germany, now in Nigeria

- 10 years of veganism and vegan entrepreneurship

- Establishing ProVeg Nigeria

03:45 What's Real?

- Not much supernatural thinking in small-town Germany "there were more cows than humans"

- Lutheran evangelical protestant society but "we went to church twice a year... it was not a very religious background"

- Nigeria: "A completely different ballgame... the spiritual, religious world plays a much bigger role in Africa... religion is everywhere here... and I like it... In Africa I started to pray... you don't have that sense of control."

- Christianity, Islam as well as natural / traditional religions from the pre-colonial era

08:33 What Matters?

- "Every day I see these two sides", Germany (enlightenment, studying philosophy) and Nigeria (travelling as a journalist in W.Africa: "a completely different way people see the world")

- Only recently exploring the Bible (via podcasts) "just to understand historically"

- Finding references to treatment of animals in the Old and New Testaments

- Nigeria: "Religion is much more taken... by the letter" vs. the German way "it's just a parable"

- "If you're coming from a western background you just shape your belief system" vs. "people are handing over authority to another level"

- "How do we actually convince people... whether I'm in Germany or Nigeria?"

- "I walk through the streets here... it's funny... even though everybody is black and in Germany everybody is white I see features... very similar behaviours"

- "I see really the universal parts... that's where things come together... trying to change the world and not just a few enlightened people"

13:16 Who Matters?

- Step-father in Germany was a farmer "neighbours got together and bought a pig... the butcher coming to the farm"

- Hearing stories about factory farming "they were using nicotine to disinfect the chickens... there's something wrong here"... overfishing... foot and mouth disease

- "Nobody in rural Germany was talking about sentientism or veganism "

- University in Hamburg "there was an alternative meal in the canteen"... a vegetarian partner aware of history of US colonialist animal agriculture

- Travelling to West Africa and eating #streetfood "when I'm on a #vegetarian diet I don't get sick!" vs. getting typhoid fever from a road-side meat barbecue

- "You start learning... what's the implications... I realised... this is good... let me become vegetarian"

24:35 A Better Future?

48:41 Follow Hakeem

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/hakeemjimo/ - https://veggievictory.com/ “We are winning with the veggies!”

- https://proveg.com/ng/...and much more. Full show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sentientism.info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠"I'm a Sentientist" wall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this simple form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here on FaceBook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Come join us there!

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sentientism/message

You Might Like

Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Should Know
iHeartPodcasts
This American Life
This American Life
This American Life
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan | Cumulus Podcast Network
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Criminal
Criminal
Vox Media Podcast Network
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Ezra Klein Show
The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion
We Can Do Hard Things
We Can Do Hard Things
Glennon Doyle and Audacy
Literally! With Rob Lowe
Literally! With Rob Lowe
Stitcher & Team Coco, Rob Lowe
Am I the Jerk?
Am I the Jerk?
youtube.com/amithejerk
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards
Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
Girls Next Level
Girls Next Level
Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt & Audioboom