African Development Bank Group and Open Capital launch the Agri-Food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism (ACFM)’s “Agri-SME Support Program”
Nairobi, June 20, 2024
African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Open Capital recently launched the Agri-Food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism (ACFM)’s “Agri-SME Support Program”, part of ACFM’s Technical Assistance Window. ACFM is a Special Fund housed at AfDB and capitalized by the Canadian Government, looking to catalyze agricultural finance towards gender-inclusive, climate-resilient agri-SMEs across Africa.
The Agri-SME Support Program will focus on developing a pipeline of 180+ high-impact agri-SMEs across 20+ African countries, including selected fragile states, and enhance their access to finance through targeted one-on-one capacity building, group trainings, and coaching. The program is composed of three pillars: Seed Lab, Growth Facility, and ACFM Connect:
Seed Lab: offers a 3-month cohort-based training and coaching program targeting early-stage agri-SMEs with revenues between US$100K and $500K, including a tailored learning curriculum. Seed Lab’s training sessions focus on strengthening strategic foundations and translating business objectives into actionable growth strategies, building capacity in critical areas such as talent management, leadership skills, improving operations, financial management, investment readiness, and strengthening gender and climate impact.
The Seed Lab will select participating agri-SMEs through three competitive calls for applications (*note that the first call for applications has already been launched and agri-SMEs have been selected). While each call for application will focus on different geographies, the following are general eligibility criteria:
Country: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Sector: Agri-SMEs operating across food system value chains, including service providers and others, with the exception of the retail sector
Annual revenues: US$100K-$500K
Number of full-time employees (FTEs): 5-50
Capital raise target: US $50K-$750K
Gender and climate components: Priority will be given to gender-inclusive and/or climate-resilient agri-SMEs
Growth Facility: supports high-impact, growth-stage agri-SMEs with annual revenues between US$500K and $5M with 2 to 4 months of tailored one-on-one support across a range of technical assistance areas including but not limited to refining business strategy, scaling and/or improving business performance across areas, preparing investor-ready materials, engaging with potential investors, navigating the capital raise process, mainstreaming gender inclusivity, and enhancing climate resilience. Additionally, participants are eligible to receive senior mentorship sessions over 2 to 3 months to support advisory implementation, navigate new unfolding situations (e.g. capital raise), and others.
The Growth Facility will build a robust pipeline of eligible agri-SMEs, including through partnerships with market leading actors. Eligibility criteria include:
Country and sector: Same as for Seed Lab (see above)
Annual revenues: US$500K-$5M
Number of full-time employees (FTEs): 51-250
Capital raise target: US$1M–$2M
Gender and climate components: Same as for Seed Lab (see above)
ACFM Connect: ecosystem-building platform for agri-SMEs and other phererogram partners to build networks, share learnings, and connect with each other. Access and participation in ACFM Connect will be granted to participants from the Seed Lab and Growth Facility, as well as alumni and other key ecosystem players.
For more detail on ACFM’s Agri-SME Support Program, please access the program launch deck here.
Stay tuned for updates!
