Following earlier sessions on post-grant financing and productive finance in agro-processing, this session shifts from enterprise performance to bankability. It explores why Agri-SMEs seeking USD 25,000–1.5M face Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest financing gap, and identifies the structural bottlenecks preventing transactions from closing.

Key Discussion Themes

• The Bankability Bottleneck: High origination and due diligence costs ($15k/loan) make smaller loans unprofitable for banks, leading to a sector average return on assets of −0.7% versus 3–5% for regional lenders.
• Capital Chain Alignment: Upstream requirements from DFIs, blended-finance facilities, and guarantee schemes directly dictate what local lenders can offer enterprises.
• Bridging the Information Divide: Addressing mutual misunderstandings—lenders misreading agricultural production cycles and cash flows, while enterprises lack readiness for commercial standards.
• CAADP Kampala Alignment: Unlocking pipeline execution to support the CAADP Kampala Declaration target of mobilizing USD 100B in agrifood investments by 2035.