November has been a rather enlightening month at Finding XY across the different projects, we have designed and implemented! In this newsletter, we share with you updates on the Women in Agriculture Impact Investment (WAII) Facility, Cente Ya Kikazi and the Africa Green Technologies Facility (AGTF).  Please receive our November Newsletter.

Eddie Sembatya,

C.E.0

THE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE IMPACT INVESTMENT (WAII) FACILITY

Finding XY has built a strong pipeline of female-led Agri SMEs looking to raise investment of a minimum of USD 50,000 in debt or equity financing through the Women in Agriculture Impact Investment (WAII) Facility. The facility has and still continues to partner with institutional and impact investors to accelerate investment in female-led Agri-SMEs. Since the facility launch in June, we have partnered with investors including, Nordic Impact Funds and I Gravity. We look forward to engaging with more investors to address the “gender gap” through Gender Lens Investment and a blend of development and commercial finance.

The facility has received over 110 expressions of interest, out of which 16 Agri-SMEs have been selected for the first investment advisory cycle. The companies are currently going through investment readiness support to position them for inward investment.

We are proud that the facility has already recorded successful deal closures, coupled with numerous non-financial achievements! Specifically, we have recorded measurable progress in the reduction of the ‘gender gap’ in the participant Agri SMEs in terms of female participation, access, rights, remuneration, or benefits. Agri-SMEs have also significantly improved operational and governance structures that are appropriate for sustainability beyond the program scope.

The call for applications is still open and we are still receiving applications from female-led enterprises in the agricultural sector aimed towards developing and supporting a community of female-led Agri SMEs to grow and receive investment. 

The goal of this program is to build a quality pipeline of investable Agri-SMEs in Africa, provide access to low-cost capital, and act as a catalytic facility for female entrepreneurs, attracting further non-financial support and impact-oriented capital.

WAII is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future Uganda Inclusive Agricultural Markets Activity and is implemented by Finding XY.

CENTE YA KIKAZI (The female entrepreneur’s wallet)

Cente Ya kikazi is a sector agnostic accelerator and investment vehicle designed by Finding XY to provide tailored business advisory and concessional loans to women entrepreneurs in Africa. A successful pilot was run in 2021, where 26 female Ugandan entrepreneurs received business advisory, and were selected for finance access. The program is currently on it’s scale up phase!

The goal of this program is to build a pipeline of investable female-led enterprises through a Technical Assistance Facility, Offer a loan fund providing low-cost capital female l e d enterprises in Africa and act as a catalytic facility for female entrepreneurs, attracting further non-financial support and impact-oriented capital in the next 24 months.

To significantly expand opportunities for Women to receive entrepreneurial skills training and allow for the improvement of gender-based social and economic opportunities, the business training is provided over our digital platform Entrepreneurship Institute of Africa. With regard to skills development, the training is leveraged to help women find work, achieve autonomy, and overcome poverty. Additionally, the training provides women with a portal to the financial services system, allowing them to gain access to credit and grow businesses.

Upon successful completion of the 9-week tailored advisory, selected enterprises will receive access to finance, of ticket sizes between EUR 10,000 – 50,000. Finding XY employs an innovative blended finance arrangement where the fund combines a 60:40 allocation between grants and concessional loans is employed. The grants are used as first loss so that limited collateral is required for the women enterprises applying for the concessional loans. Collateral required from applicants will be limited to a maximum of (40%) of the total amount being applied, assuming a collateral requirement of up to 120% . Two investment approaches are used in the fund, thus; Direct Funding through Finding XY with concessional terms to WSMEs following investment readiness training and lending through Partner financial institutions with a de-risking. Our Scope of investors is Commercial Banks, Impact Funds, DFIs, Family Offices, and Foundations.

The eligibility criteria are that enterprises should be post revenue, have been in operation for at least 1 year, be a Registered entity, seeking to raise USD 5k or more in debt financing, and have 30% female representation at ownership, management, or 50% across the value chain.

AFRICA GREEN TECHNOLOGIES FACILITY (AGTF)

Finding XY  and partners have designed the Africa Green Technologies Facility (AGTF), a facility that profiles feasible projects where investments can be made, and match them to funders via an alternative/blended financing scheme as a way of providing cover across the different investment needs of funders and local enterprises. The facility shall give an opportunity to local climate-smart enterprises to grow, and provide green energy and better climate adaptation solutions in local communities.

The facility is targeted to increase cooperation among green business promoters by taking a bespoke approach to define green technology needs, learning, and facilitating deal flow using finance and project consulting for commercial uptake by investors. 

Designing this facility is inspired by the increasing need for solar companies to afford inventory financing which they cannot afford with the available since local debt financing solutions because they are too expensive for them. It is inevitable that creation of solutions and opportunities to strengthen domestic markets and accelerate adoption of green technologies is the only alternate solution, hence the Africa Green Technologies Facility (AGTF).