British International Investment

AgDevCo Limited

AfricaEast AfricaSouthern AfricaWest AfricaFood and agriculture

AgDevCo is a UK-Government founded agricultural investment company. It was established in 2008 with a mission to invest in small and medium-sized agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.

The company particularly focusses on primary agriculture and on businesses which support smallholder farmers as customers or suppliers. It typically invests between $2 million and $10 million, and can invest both debt and equity.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

Our investment will allow AgDevCo to continue to grow its investment activities in agriculture across sub-Saharan Africa.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Economic opportunities for farmers through improved access to inputs and markets (SDG 2.3).
  • Improved economic opportunties through direct employment (SDG 8.5).
  • Environmental sustainability from sustainable and climate-smart agricultural practices (SDG 12.3) and sustainable forest management (SDG 15.2).

How?

Primary Secondary

Providing capital to small and medium-sized food and agriculture businesses. AgDevCo will focus on primary production and processing of crops for both export markets and local consumption, as well as funding businesses which supply inputs into the agricultural value chain.

At market level, AgDevCo will act as a value chain steward and support agribusinesses to maximise local value capture (most countries in Africa are net importers of food despite being large producers).

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Suppliers (outgrowers) and customers

Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone

Commercial and smallholder farmers (1-2 hectares); 63 per cent women

Employees

Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone

Low-skilled for primary production and basic processing companies; 20 per cent women

Planet

Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone

N/A

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Target to reach 550,000 attributable smallholders by 2027 and17,800 jobs created and sustained.

Based on AgDevCo's track record to date, we expect impact to be deep particularly for smallholder farmers ($199 million income uplift since inception).

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Given inherent risks of the sector, coupled with AgDevCo s intention to support high-impact businesses, many potential investors are cautious about investing in the company until they have seen it achieve greater scale . Our investment and involvement was critical to the continued growth of the platform, to help it achieve this scale.
  • Value additionality: (1) Improving existing environmental and social systems and processes; (2) Alignment to Operating Principles for Impact Management; (3) Providing knowledge and advice on shaping investment strategy and business model; (4) Supporting improvement in representation and inclusion of women and Black African leaders at the institution level and across their portfolio

Risk

Execution Risk
  • Related to the possibility that AgDevCo underperforms financially, which risks jeopardising expected impact. Our capital potentially makes it more viable because it gives it the necessary scale, making it better equipped to absorb portfolio losses, provide follow-on/Support funding in the right instances and take a comprehensive and rounded approach to portfolio construction.
External Risk
  • Relates to External factors disrupting impact delivery, such as to changes in commodity prices, domestic agriculture policies and climate change. This risk remains due to the long-term nature of the investment, fluctuations inherent in agriculture and the regulatory environment.

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We are working closely with AgDevCo to improve its existing, and already robust, Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), including in areas including animal welfare, supply chain and monitoring.

Environmental and social risk

High

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    December 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D3374
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Cote d'Ivoire, East Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Business and consumer services
    Sub sector

    The sub-sector that the investment is made into; this provides a more granular level of detail than the ‘sector’ information

    :
    Food Products

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Equity
    Start date :
    October 2022
    Amount :
    $50m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    United Kingdom
    Climate finance

    Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.

    :
    Partially qualified
    Climate finance type

    Mitigation: Indicates investments which, by avoiding or reducing GHG emissions or increasing GHG sequestration, contributes substantially to the stabilisation of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere – at a level which prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system consistent with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement

    Adaptation: Indicates investments aimed at preventing or reducing the risks or vulnerabilities posed by climate change and increasing climate resilience. This includes both adapted activities and enabling activities to manage and reduce physical climate risks

    Dual: Indicates investments directed towards activities contributing to both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation and meeting the respective criteria for each category

    The climate finance type of the investment is determined at time of commitment.

    :
    • Mitigation
    2X Gender Finance

    Indicates whether the investment is ‘2X qualified’ using the 2X Challenge criteria. You can find out more here. It only applies to investments made from 2018 onwards, when the 2X Challenge was first launched.

    :
    Fully qualified

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