Financing the growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises as a necessary precondition for sustainable agri-food system transformation

Perspectives in International Development Seminar Series

In low and middle income countries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are central to the transformation of agri-food systems that sustainably deliver sufficient and healthy food to all while serving as an engine for inclusive job growth. While SMEs supply close to 65% of food consumed in African households, they face considerable challenges in accessing financial and business development resources to support their growth and unleash their catalytic potential. With a focus on Africa, this seminar discusses the challenges that have limited investments in agri-SMEs. It explores a range of recent financial innovations that show promise to incentivize increased capital supply to SMEs across the agri-food value chain, and to improve the stock of credit-worthy investments. With a focus on current efforts by the African Development Bank, seminar explores the role of Multilateral Development Banks in accelerating the development and financing of suitable instruments.

About the presenter

Andrew Mude has close to 15 years of progressive experience as a scientist, program manager and practitioner in development economics. He has served at the African Development Bank since early 2019, and is currently Lead, Agri-SME Development and Innovative Finance in the Department of Agricultural Development and Rural Finance. Andrew previously served as Principal Economist at the International Livestock Research Institute where he led a team that 1) developed and introduced evidence-based scalable solutions for enhancing smallholder resilience to agro-climactic variability and related shocks and 2) leveraged transformational technology to relax information constraints and empower decision making across the agricultural value chain. Andrew was the 2016 recipient of the Normal Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.

About the seminar series

The "Perspectives in International Development Seminar Series" is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science.