Partnership with the Africa Agriculture SME Fund (AAF-SME)
The AAF-SME Fund is Africa’s first impact investment fund focused exclusively on food-producing and food-processing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent. AAF-SME is complemented by a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), which provides grant funding with a particular emphasis on the establishment of outgrower schemes. The CFC joined the Fund at the second close in May 2014.
The Fund has invested in eight different agricultural SMEs across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), focusing on various value chain segments, ranging from mixed farming operations to organic fertilizer production. The proceeds are mainly used for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies until the Fund is scheduled to close.
Through its investments, the AAF-SME Fund has supported local employment and strengthened the commercial relationships between smallholders and AAF-SME-funded companies that source raw materials for processing.
The investment was designed to support the main indicator of the complementary TAF: a minimum of 20,000 outgrowers were to be connected to commercial AAF and AAF-SME investments by 2017.
Submitting Institution | Africa Agriculture SME Fund (AAF-SME) |
Location | Africa |
Commodity | Miscellaneous |
Total Cost (Target Fund Size) | USD 80,000,000 |
CFC Financing | USD 2,000,000 (equity) |
Co-financing | Other main investors: Agence Française de Développement (AFD), PROPARCO, Spanish Government (AECID) and African Development Bank (AfDB). |
Year of Implementation | 2015 |
SDGs
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