Africa faces significant challenges in its agribusiness sector, including food import dependency, structural weaknesses, and a glaring financing gap for Agri-SMEs. Despite the sector’s critical role in employment and GDP, only a fraction of needed financing is met, leaving vast potential untapped. In addition, the region grapples with the escalating impacts of climate change, necessitating a focus on climate resilience. AlphaSeeds believes in an investment-driven development approach over traditional aid, focusing on creating local jobs with fair remuneration within socially and environmentally respectful frameworks.
83% of needed financing of Agri-SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa is unmet. There are ~130 thousands of Agri-SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current articulated demand of Agri-SMEs is estimated at approximately USD 90 Bn annually in Sub-Saharan Africa of which only USD 15.5 Bn is currently met. Even though agriculture employs up to 60% of the population and accounts for 30% of GDP but the sector receives less than 5% of commercial bank lending and this money only goes to the top of the pyramid.
