Press release -
Swedfund to support smallholder farmers in Kenya
Swedfund has decided to support the agri-fintech company Apollo Agriculture in Kenya through a loan of USD 5 million.
The investment will help Apollo to further grow its business of supplying smallholder farmers with agricultural products (e.g., fertilizer and seeds) bundled with distribution, advisory, insurance and financing. This will in turn boost job creation, enhance agricultural output and increase tech integration in small scale farming.
- The food sector will be a growing sector for us going forward. This is the first time we make use of an EU guarantee within the Global Gateway strategy and with this investment we contribute to increased food security and access to financing for smallholder farmers in Kenya. By supporting a new and innovative business model, we can foster more efficient job creation and a modernised and more productive agricultural sector, says Maria Håkansson, CEO at Swedfund.
- This loan from Swedfund is a pivotal step for Apollo Agriculture in realizing our vision for small-scale farming transformation, says Eli Pollak, CEO at Apollo Agriculture and continues:
- We're grateful for Swedfund's partnership, which will empower us to expand our reach and continue making a difference in farmers' lives.
Apollo’s main farm input product is maize seeds and fertilizer given that maize is a staple food in Kenya and the most common food crop grown by smallholder farmers. Apollo uses a network of agents to onboard new farmers and currently has ~7,000 sales agents and more than 350,000 farmers as customers.
Kenya is highly vulnerable to climate change and many farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, putting food supply at risk. Apollo’s climate actions on risk mitigation, adaptation and resilience (e.g., through drought resistance seeds, blended fertilizer, insurance, agronomic training and certifications) play a critical role in advancing climate-smart agriculture and resilience of small-scale farmers. In turn, this can support food security and combat climate change.
The loan from Swedfund is given alongside another Team Europe partner, ImpactConnect (a promotional program funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) who also contributes with USD 5 million, in total USD 10 million to support Apollo’s growth in Kenya. Swedfund’s loan is supported up to 50% through a guarantee by the European Union under the EFSD+ as a contribution to the Global Gateway investment priority of Climate and Energy.
About Apollo Agriculture
Apollo Agriculture is an agri-fintech company that empowers smallholder farmers across Kenya and Zambia to farm profitably and sustainably. Through innovative use of technology, data science and a scalable distribution model, Apollo provides farmers with a comprehensive solution covering agricultural inputs, advisory, insurance and financing.
About Global Gateway
Global Gateway is the EU’s investment strategy for partner countries, which aims to mobilise €300 billion in investments between 2021 and 2027 with a mix of grants, concessional loans and guarantees to de-risk private sector investments.
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About Swedfund
Swedfund is Sweden's development finance institution with the mission to contribute to poverty reduction through sustainable investments in developing countries. Our investments in the private sector contribute to a growing number of jobs offering decent working conditions and increases access to essential products and services like electricity and healthcare. Climate and gender are themes that permeates our investment process.
Swedfund invests in energy & climate, financial inclusion and increased access to capital for micro, small and medium-sized companies as well as healthcare and digitalization.
We are part of Swedish development corporation, and we measure and report all our results. As a state-owned company, Swedfund is managed by the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation. We are financed through reflows from the portfolio and capital injections from the development assistance budget. The return from the portfolio finances our operations and we reinvest reflows from our portfolio in new projects, i.e. we recycle our capital injections.
For more information: please visit www.swedfund.se/en| www.edfi.eu
