Small-scale farmers running agribusiness under the Umati Capital’s Supply Chain Financing (SCF) product now have all the reasons to smile. Following the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) granting $500,000 to Umati Capital; these funds will be used over the next three years to boost the farmers’ agribusinesses efforts.
This funding will enable the small-scale farmers to sell more to bigger and well-established buyers who offer higher prices but have delayed payment. As opposed to these small-scale farmers selling to the informal sector buyers who buy in small amounts and offer lower prices even though they pay cash up front.
The SCF funding will offer the small-scale farmers the much-needed financial cushion as they wait for their big clients to process payment for the products they delivered. The funds are expected to reach some 50,000 small-scale farmers using Umati’s Supply Chain Financing product. It is geared towards increasing farmers’ productivity and boost their net income over the course of the next three years.
“Our investors see a great opportunity in the agricultural sector which contributes $16.6 billion to GDP,” said Ivan Mbowa, a co-founder of Umati Capital.
“However, the sector has a credit gap of $1.8 billion unserved by traditional financiers. To bridge this gap, the funding will advance Umati’s goal of financing and providing associated technology to increase the productivity for smallholder farmers.
AGRA in Collaboration with Umati will design, pilot, and implement some capacity building models to suit the need of both the agricultural products buyers and suppliers.
AGRA President, Dr. Agnes Kalibata said, “Agriculture is the next installment of the Africa rising narrative. However, access to finance continues to be a major hindrance. We believe that through public-private partnerships and engagements such as this partnership, we can support farmers to contribute to economic growth by linking them to better and less risky finance options such as Umati Capital’s SCF Product.
We are grateful to our friends at the MasterCard Foundation, who have made this possible through the Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Project implemented by AGRA.”
