Last week, the annual African Enterprise Challenge Fund conference took place in Nairobi. It was an amazing conference bringing together social entrepreneurs from the whole continent to share their experiences and learn from each other.
I learnt so many things, from contract framing, to poultry and investment strategy, which cannot fit in one blog post only. So let me start a new series under the label AECF on this blog, and take you through each of the lessons learned in small steps.
For today, the first lesson is about what AECF is. I discovered that this is a fund that allows start-up with disruptive ideas in agribusiness to get funded. It is a fund that does not help poor people with hand outs or any NGO, it just support enterprise who have the potential to bring a change to the poor in a business environment.
The African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$250m challenge fund for agribusiness in Africa, established in 2008. AECF provides support to the private sector for new and innovative business ideas in agribusiness, rural financial services and renewable energy/adaptation to climate change that will benefit Africa’s small farmers and rural households.
AECF is supported by some of the biggest names in development finance and hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The aim of AECF is to encourage private sector companies to compete for investment support for their new and innovative business ideas. AECF provides the minimum amount of concessionary finance to make business ideas happen that otherwise would not.
AECF funds innovative business ideas in agri-business, rural financial services, renewable energy and technologies to assist small farmers to adapt to climate change. (Taken from here)
It is a fund in which big donors make finances available for businesses, and it is managed by a committee chaired by Prof. Rudy Rabbinge, who I came already accross during my PhD time at Wageningen University, reminding me how small the world can be.
On Friday night I left the conference with the conviction that AECF is one of these unique schemes that does things right : helping people to invest into their innovative ideas to lift smallholders out of poverty with their own means and let the market decide what works and what not. Isn't that how aid should be?
Often those events have a huge registration fee, and i always wonder how
social entrepreneurs who use all their small money to make the change they
want to see happen spend 600 usd to attend a 2 day luxury event. So when you
go to these events, you meet a lot of "wannabe save the world" people, who talk a lot but there is nothing behind.
AECF conference was different, not only i was allowed to participate for free, but even my parking fee was covered (the organizer were extremely generous as interested people could just register and join). People who joined the conference all where running businesses with their ups and downs or were investors in such ventures. For me, with my emerging poultry enterprise, it was mainly a space to learn, to understand new trends, and discover that my philosophy is part of a bigger movement.
AECF conference was different, not only i was allowed to participate for free, but even my parking fee was covered (the organizer were extremely generous as interested people could just register and join). People who joined the conference all where running businesses with their ups and downs or were investors in such ventures. For me, with my emerging poultry enterprise, it was mainly a space to learn, to understand new trends, and discover that my philosophy is part of a bigger movement.
I learnt so many things, from contract framing, to poultry and investment strategy, which cannot fit in one blog post only. So let me start a new series under the label AECF on this blog, and take you through each of the lessons learned in small steps.
For today, the first lesson is about what AECF is. I discovered that this is a fund that allows start-up with disruptive ideas in agribusiness to get funded. It is a fund that does not help poor people with hand outs or any NGO, it just support enterprise who have the potential to bring a change to the poor in a business environment.
The African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$250m challenge fund for agribusiness in Africa, established in 2008. AECF provides support to the private sector for new and innovative business ideas in agribusiness, rural financial services and renewable energy/adaptation to climate change that will benefit Africa’s small farmers and rural households.
AECF is supported by some of the biggest names in development finance and hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The aim of AECF is to encourage private sector companies to compete for investment support for their new and innovative business ideas. AECF provides the minimum amount of concessionary finance to make business ideas happen that otherwise would not.
AECF funds innovative business ideas in agri-business, rural financial services, renewable energy and technologies to assist small farmers to adapt to climate change. (Taken from here)
It is a fund in which big donors make finances available for businesses, and it is managed by a committee chaired by Prof. Rudy Rabbinge, who I came already accross during my PhD time at Wageningen University, reminding me how small the world can be.
On Friday night I left the conference with the conviction that AECF is one of these unique schemes that does things right : helping people to invest into their innovative ideas to lift smallholders out of poverty with their own means and let the market decide what works and what not. Isn't that how aid should be?
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