Dr. Issoufou Kapran is a trained sorghum breeder and throughout his career, he has been interested in taking varietal technologies to farmers through seeds. He released the first sorghum hybrid and initiated hybrid seed production in Niger, West Africa 1989-90. He implemented a project to launch private hybrid seed production in Niger 1995-2000 and organized the first West Africa hybrid sorghum and millet seed conference in Niamey Niger 1998. He initiated a public seed unit in Niger as a foundation for private sector capacity building 1998. Since 2007 he has being with AGRA and is building the private seed industry in West Africa through more than 40 local startups across 8 countries.