Why invest in agri-food in East Africa?

A High-Growth Sector with Deep Impact.

Agri-food is East Africa’s largest economic sector—contributing 25% of GDP and employing 70% of the workforce. With projected growth rates of 6–7%, the sector holds vast potential for value creation through processing, efficiency, market access, and waste reduction. At the same time, strengthening the performance of this sector delivers broad and inclusive impact across the entire food value chain.

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The power of food processing SMEs

Food SMEs act as crucial connectors between smallholder farmers and consumers. When they scale, they multiply impact:

  • Create jobs, especially for women and youth
  • Strengthen food security with local, nutritious, affordable products
  • Reduce food loss and waste, helping mitigate climate impact
  • Securing consistent off-take for smallholder farmers
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The problem: SMEs can’t scale

Despite their potential, agri-food SMEs face three critical barriers:

  • Capital: Difficult access to financing due to strict terms, lack of collateral, and mismatch with traditional VC models

  • Market Access: Limited infrastructure, certification challenges, and difficulty connecting with customers

  • Know-How & Technology: Gaps in food safety, processing technology, and product development expertise

Our contribution: Food Flourish Ventures

We provide the tools SMEs need to grow—in one integrated package:

  • Tailored debt financing

  • Regional and international market linkages

  • Food-specific technical and operational expertise

We are food industry experts, and we help agri-food businesses flourish—profitably and sustainably.

Our value proposition

We invest in rigorous pre-investment TA (technical assistance) to ensure “hygiene” factors are addressed and the growth plan is solid before investing

We actively create access to high-margin market opportunities – facilitating market linkages locally and abroad (“door opening”, customer relationships, behavioral / consumer insights)

We are experts in food – with access to local and international R&D, innovation, food technologists, and experts for Capex and operational excellence in food development and processing, – fit-for-purpose for the needs of local SMEs

We support with targeted expertise on productivity and efficiency improvement – incl. operational excellence, business processes, financial management

We offer debt financing – combined with a premium on top to partially compensate for hands-on support on the growth opportunity as part of post-investment TA

We team up with local business angels for investment (~ 10% of ticket size) as well as additional insight, support and risk sharing

Why this matters: Local food systems are under pressure

  • Population boom: Africa’s population will double by 2050, with 40% under 18
  • Rapid urbanization: Urban population set to triple; mega cities rising from 3 to 14
  • Nutrition gap: Malnutrition persists, with >30% prevalence of childhood stunting
  • Food loss: Up to 40% of food wasted post-harvest before it’s consumed
  • Climate impact: 16 of the 20 most climate-vulnerable countries are in Africa

How we measure our impact

We will measure our impact through tangible improvements across the food system, aligned with key UN Sustainable Development Goals referenced below, backed by data from our portfolio companies and field-based outcomes.

SDG 2 – Zero hunger, esp. 2.1 (universal access to safe and nutritious food) and 2.4 (sustainable food production (systems))

SDG 5 – Gender equality, esp. 5.5 (ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership)

SDG 8  – Decent work and economic growth, esp. 8.2 (diversify, innovate, upgrade for economic productivity), 8.3 (support job creation and growing enterprises), 8.4 (Improve resource efficiency in consumption and production)

SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production, esp. 12.3 (halve global per capita food waste), 12.9 (support developing countries’ scientific and technological capability for sustainable consumption and production)

SDG 13 – Climate change, esp. 13.1 (strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related disasters)

Aligned with the 2X challenge

Fund design

Fund documentation is available on request.