Today, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, and World Economic Forum President Børge Brende will host an event on financing Africa's agricultural growth on the margins of the opening of the UN General Assembly. This event will focus on how donor governments, development finance institutions, African governments, and the private sector can catalyze action to strengthen food value chains in Africa through innovative financing, and better support small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises.
Secretary Yellen, Kenyan President William Ruto, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, DFC CEO Scott Nathan, and Acumen CEO Jacqueline Novogratz will also participate in the event.
Agricultural small and medium enterprises (agri-SMEs) are Africa's largest employer and economic engine - and the key to transforming a largely subsistence agriculture sector into a commercially-sustainable industry that can feed the continent. It's these agri-SMEs that provide 95 percent of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa with access to seeds and fertilizer, provide extension services and training, offer transport for crops to reach markets, process harvests, and market and distribute goods. Yet three-out-of-four agri-SMEs can't access formal bank finance, and are too large for microfinance, creating an estimated $100 billion gap in unmet demand for financing.
WHEN: Monday, September 18, 5:00 p.m.
