African Development Bank (AfDB) has participated in the launch of African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) platform linking Africa’s SMEs to investment opportunities.
Statistics indicate that the AGRF’s agriculture matchmaking platform initiative links some 4,000 actors in the agriculture sector to investment and networking opportunities.
Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development at AfDB, Dr. Beth Dunford said across Africa, there is a growing class of “agripreneurs” who are looking for investment, partnerships, technical knowhow and financing to scale up their business.
“The African Development Bank is excited to grow its partnership with this initiative. The Agribusiness Deal Room compliments our efforts to expand finance for agribusiness to enable small and medium enterprises to grow and attract new and innovative sources of sustainable capital,” she told the online audience,” Dr. Dunford said.
This year, the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room will focus on addressing the challenges in agricultural lending to small and medium enterprises, or SMEs.
“The huge potential of the agricultural sector on the continent remains unmet, with agriculture potentially the engine of African economies. We designed the Deal Room to build the capacities of SMEs while at the same time connecting them with sources of financing. We are looking for investments and partnerships that will unlock the sector’s potential,” said Dr. Fadel Ndiame, Deputy President, AGRA.
The AfDB is one of 24 Agribusiness Deal Room partners that bring complementary capabilities, resources, and networks to the platform.
