CFC and Fairtrade Africa agreed to explore more investments from private sector in the agro-commodity sphere
Ms. Madeline Njeri Muga, Strategy and Impact Director, and Mr. Zachary Kiarie from Fairtrade Africa (FTA) visited CFC virtually to have an introductory meeting and to know more about the activities of the CFC and its impact on the ground.
Following the exchange of usual greetings and pleasantries, Ambassador Belal and Mr. Ernesto Daza Lacouture, Impact Investment Manager of CFC, briefly informed Ms. Muga and Mr. Kiarie of the current and probable future initiatives of the CFC. Ambassador Belal elaborated on the elements, what he termed as green recovery in a post pandemic era, to help COVID-19 wrecked smallholder and SMEs to get to their feet on the ground at the earliest.
Amb. Belal acknowledged the already existing synergies between CFC and FTA as both the organisations are dedicated to the increased income and general welfare of the producers along the myriad of commodity value chains.
Ms. Muga highlighted the status and structure of Fairtrade Africa (FTA), the projects FTA is implementing to bring more income for the producers in a sustainable way. FTA also expressed their interests in securing funding from CFC for their producer cooperatives in different part of Africa.
In response, CFC MD Amb. Belal elaborated on the ongoing drive to form a new fund-the Agriculture Commodity Transformation (ACT) Fund and urged FTA to actively promote this fund amongst their network so that more resources could be devoted towards increasing income of the smallholders so that they can lift themselves up from the pit of poverty.
FTA appreciated the diversity of CFC’s work and expressed their readiness to explore more funding resources so that CFC and FTA could do more together for the smallholders and thereby to alleviate poverty in the South.
The meeting was concluded by Amb. Belal and Ms. Muga with the assurances of remaining engaged and do the necessary follow up in the days to come.