Dr. Tony Bello’s striking profile in Agricultural development

Dr. Tony Bello is the Senior Technical Adviser on Agricbusiness to Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. In this position, he works directly with the minister. He is seconded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP-BMGF) to the Minister. Dr. Bello has played a key leadership role in the creation, coordination and mobilization of the Nigeria Agricbusiness Group and its Executive Leadership Group.

He is leading the development and strengthening of inter- ministerial coordination platform to improve business services delivery, knowledge transfer and technical support to the private sector. His work in the past two years has contributed to private sector investment commitments of over $5 billion.

Dr. Bello is a 20 years veteran of the food industry. He has held senior management and scientist position with Fortune 500 US food companies including Principal Scientist and Consultant positions with the Kellogg Company, Pepsico Frito-lay, Heinz Ore-Ida, Kraft and Bemudez Group. Prior to joining the public sector, he was Chief Scientist officer of Idapro and Vice President of Research and Technology at Pro-Health, two privately held companies doing business in potato farming, fresh pack for wholesale market and dehydration processing. 

Dr. Bello’s work on new products, processes and scale up in the United State, Taiwan, China, Netherlands, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Trinidad-Tobago and other countries has made him a global leader in food science and processing technology transfer. He is credited with leading the development and commercialization of Frito-Lay’s “Oven baked” and Lay’s Stax “ potato chips brands. His innovation in potato dehydration and extrusion processing has increased the capacity of grain-free formulation by over 50% in pet food manufacturers.

He is an author and publisher of over 30 science research articles, patents and presentations in reputable science journals and professional conferences. He earned his doctorate degree in Food science (1989) from Texas A&M University after receiving his Master of Science in Food Science (1982) and Bachelor of Science in Animal Science (1980) from Alabama A&M University.