ABC Fund accelerates its investments in microfinance and cooperative lending in Africa
The Agri-Business Capital Fund (ABC Fund) announced that it has completed a latest round of investments totaling €6.4 million across four microfinance providers in Mali, Kenya and Uganda.
The fund has committed €2.4 million and €1 million respectively to the savings and credit cooperatives Nyesigiso in Mali and EBO in Uganda, as well as €2 million and €1 million respectively to the Kenya-based credit-only microfinance institutions Premier Credit Kenya and Yehu.
Nyesigiso is a network of rural savings and credit cooperatives operating in Mali, which collects savings from members and provides them loans and microcredits. With over 260,000 members and a presence in six of Mali’s nine regions, Nyesigiso is the country’s second largest microfinance institution with one of the largest rural farmers networks. Today, over 60% of loans are short term, with a tenure of less than nine months.
The ABC Fund’s financing will help provide longer term facilities to members and increase the agriculture portfolio size by a third. The ABC Fund’s financing will help increase financing for specific food crops which are currently under financed in the country including rice, potato, onions and maize.
EBO is a savings and credit cooperative society (SACCO) with nearly 48,000 members, which provides sustainable financial services to almost 12,000 borrowers, most of whom are smallholder farmers operating predominantly in the agriculture and food crops sector in rural Uganda. Out of EBO’s six branches, five are based in rural towns servicing clients engaged primarily in agriculture activities. More than half of EBO’s active borrowers are women. The cash injection from the ABC Fund will enable it to provide more than two thousand new loans to smallholder farmers.
Yehu is a credit-only microfinance institution that provides financial services to disadvantaged communities in rural Kenya. The company currently serves more than 30,000 clients, almost a quarter of which are operating in agriculture. Its clients are predominantly women (92%) while almost a third (32%) are young people. Between 2021 and 2025, Yehu plans to increase its agriculture exposure and develop products and partnerships to support the growing number of women and young people interested in working in the agribusiness sector. Around 5,000 women are expected to receive a loan from Yehu over the tenure of the facility. Yehu also plans to create an educational programme to help clients with weather and climate related risk mitigation strategies as well as expanding its own team.
Premier Credit Kenya is a credit-only microfinance institution which provides credit to individuals and SMEs in Kenya. The company employs over 1,300 people, 87% of whom are young and 69% are women. With over half branches located in rural areas, the company plans to expand into the agriculture sector. Currently, 87% of Premier Credit’s agriculture clients are involved in crops or in food security related value chains such as dairy and poultry. The ABC Fund’s loan will allow the company to extend a further 10,000 loans to agriculture clients.
Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, founder and managing partner of Bamboo Capital Partners commented, “It gives us great pleasure to support four true game changers in Africa and enable these financial institutions to further support economic prosperity of its beneficiaries and contribute to the employment and empowerment of women and young people, impacting their wider communities.”
Jerry Parkes, CEO of Injaro Investments commented, “I am excited about partnering with these four financial intermediaries, which are important agents for achieving financial inclusion. By providing small loans in agricultural and rural communities, these investments will enable people to build small businesses and earn dignified livelihoods. Reaching these smaller borrowers is a key objective of the ABC Fund.”
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