As one of 19 children in a large, extended family, Olutayo Modupeola Adedokun received an early introduction to commercial agriculture from her father, a cocoa trader, who was a founding member and former vicepresident of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria. As a young student, her heart was set on pursuing pharmacy, but she later decided to study botany at university, followed by an MSc in horticulture. “My supervisor advised me to work on mushrooms, which was then a novel topic at the University of Ibadan,” recalls Adedokun.