Dr VN Ndou is a benevolent God-fearing person with a good sense of humour. He is a passionate and seasoned researcher in sustainable agriculture and smart farming. He is a well vested international Agronomist. His research focus and interests include but not limited to socio-economic analysis of agricultural development interventions, Sustainable marketing and production modelling of smallholder farmers to enhance farm productivity and profitability as well as evaluation of vulnerability and livelihood strategies relative to food systems efficiency. Dr Ndou is an academic instructor (agriculturist) at the Mangosuthu University of Technology and he is an academic supervisor for MSc and PhD students at UKZN, UniZul, UNISA, UMP and DUT. He has worked as researcher in highly recognised professional institutions (ARC, IncoTech Bioinfomatics and DARD). He has strong technical skills along with constructive and effective educating and mentoring methods that promote a stimulating learning environment and he has the ability to groom young and marginalised people in the field of agriculture. He is a committed young professional who is passionate about working with farmers and youth from various social and cultural backgrounds. In his years of training he was actively involved in youth leadership programmes as well as farming projects. Dr Ndou relates well to farmers, co-workers, youth and community members and he is analytical. Dr Ndou is an innovative young professional in sustainable food and agriculture and he enjoys solving problems relating to food and nutrition security, He is recognized for his leadership, academic achievement and commitment to improving communities as an outstanding young achiever.