Catch up on our latest webinars showcasing ACP agribusinesses

Two recent webinars focused on agrifood businesses in the Caribbean and Africa: “Agriculture trade: Opportunities for SMEs and businesses in export markets” (with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, IICA); and “Catalysing young African agri-entrepreneurs’ investments” (with the Pan-African Farmers’ Organization, PAFO).

Agriculture trade: Opportunities for SMEs and businesses in export markets

IICA-COLEACP Caribbean Agrifood Business Series: Session No. 5

This series focuses on innovations and successes of Caribbean farmer-led businesses and SMEs. The 31 March session highlighted the opportunities for the agrifood sector offered by exports as they increase companies’ productivity, boost the sophistication of business capabilities, and loosen credit constraints. Exporting enables SMEs to boost incomes for farmers, processors and other agricultural value chain actors, as well as to grow into large companies that drive trade and job creation.

Caribbean entrepreneurs shared their experiences of exporting, followed by importers and experts in finance who provided insights on how entrepreneurs can meet the requirements to sell on foreign markets.

You can see this session, and all past events in the IICA-COLEACP Caribbean Agrifood Business Series, in English, French and Spanish, on COLEACP’s YouTube channel.

For the March session, COLEACP and IICA also collaborated with the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce in Europe, which promotes access for Caribbean operators to EU and UK markets.

There are numerous organisations – including IICA and COLEACP (through its EU/OACPS Fit For Market SPS and Fit For Market+ programmes), as well as business support organisations and bureaus – that provide a wide range of in-depth information and guidance to assist SMEs around various trade matters, especially standards and regulations. These organisations are supported by regional governing bodies and agencies such as the Caribbean Export Development Agency, which supports SMEs to strengthen their institutional capacity and export competitiveness, contributing to the creation of an ecosystem of export-ready SMEs (see Caribbean Export’s Kellianne Williams on “Technical Barriers to Trade Affecting SMEs”).

Catalysing young African agri-entrepreneurs’ investments

PAFO-COLEACP Innovations Series: Session No. 8

This series, supported by the Fit For Market SPS programme, focuses on innovations and successes of African farmer-led businesses and SMEs. For this session, 380 participants from Africa, the Caribbean and Europe took part in the live event on 3 February, and over 1,100 people registered. Four young entrepreneurs – Momarr Mass Taal (Founder and Managing Director, Tropingo Foods, The Gambia); Mwangi Muturi (Founder and CEO, Lusoi Greens Limited, Kenya); Awa Caba (Co-founder and CEO, Soreetul, Senegal) and AbdulLateef Olaosebikan (Co-founder, Nafarm Foods, Nigeria) – presented the key drivers of success of their agrifood businesses. Their presentations were followed by insights from the incubator programme 2SCALE, which manages public-private partnerships supporting inclusive business in the agrifood sector.

You can see this session, and all past events in the PAFO-COLEACP Innovations Series, in English and French, on COLEACP’s YouTube channel.

Worldwide, nearly 1 billion of the 1.2 billion people aged 15–24 live in developing countries. Many, if not most, of Africa’s population below the age of 25 (720 million) are engaged in agriculture to a greater or lesser degree. Young people’s involvement in agriculture is critical to ensure food security, create employment and ensure economic growth, especially in rural areas. Despite the many obstacles they face (lack of access to finance, limited use of improved inputs such as seeds and fertilisers, limited access to land), many young farmers and agri-entrepreneurs are innovators and risk-takers. They are increasingly involved in high-profit businesses related to marketing, processing, packaging and food services, in addition to on-farm production.

Stay tuned for the next sessions of the IICA-COLEACP Caribbean Agrifood Business Series and the PAFO-COLEACP Innovations Series.

These activities are supported by the Fit For Market SPS programme, implemented by COLEACP within the Framework of Development Cooperation between the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union.