The Confederation of Trade Associations (CTA) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) joined forces to launch the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility-N3F, during the 19th Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP). With an initial budget of 726.8 million meticais (approximately 11.5 million dollars), this fund aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dedicated to the production of healthy foods.
Rafael Nzucule, GAIN’s External Engagement Manager, explained the need for this initiative, highlighting the challenges faced by SMEs in the search for development opportunities. He pointed out that around 80% of the food consumed is produced by these companies. In 2018, GAIN and its global partners opted to create a fund to offer technical and financial support to food companies.
The fund, implemented in collaboration with Inconfin Investment Management, has three main components. Firstly, it is aimed at financing SMEs focused on the production of safe and nutritious food in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Companies can apply for financial support of between 18.9 million and 63.2 million meticais (approximately 300,000 to 1 million dollars). Although the fund starts with 11.5 million dollars, the expectation is to raise more support from donors until it reaches 3.1 billion meticais (around 50 million dollars).
The second component consists of providing pre- and post-investment technical assistance to companies under GAIN’s leadership. Finally, there is the monitoring, evaluation and learning component, aimed at documenting successes in implementing the fund and attracting new partners to the initiative.
To access the fund, companies must meet certain criteria, including a minimum annual turnover of one million dollars over the last three years, commercial sustainability and be located in sub-Saharan African countries.
Agostinho Vuma, president of CTA, pointed out that the fund adopts a mixed financing approach to improve nutrition, encouraging SMEs to increase the production and sale of nutritious food locally. A link will be made available for submitting projects, strengthening the partnership between CTA and GAIN Mozambique.
The 19th edition of CASP, held in collaboration with the government, aims to discuss the progress and challenges of the Economic Acceleration Package and promote a more competitive business environment. Projects worth 75.8 billion meticais (around 1.7 billion dollars) will be debated during the event, which will be attended by foreign businesspeople and thousands of participants, both in person and virtually, over three days.
