GADCO Announces Investment from AATIF Fund sponsored by KfW, Deutsche Bank and the German Government

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Global Agri-Development Company (GADCO), the FMCG agri-food company operating in sub-Saharan Africa, is pleased to announce an investment from AATIF (Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund), the public-private partnership funded by the German Government, KfW, and Deutsche Bank. The fund, managed by Deutsche Bank’s Environmental & Social Capital team, provides patient capital to private sector companies with proven and scalable businesses focused on transforming livelihoods through market-based products and services.

“AATIF’s decision to invest in GADCO provides important validation of our business model and unique approach to delivering smallholder impact through commercial agriculture and food processing. GADCO’s partnerships with Syngenta for agronomy and Finatrade for distribution were vital in securing funding, as well as the development of the Brazilian-African corridor for technology and management transfer.” said Iggy Bassi, co-founder of GADCO. “AATIF’s support paves the way for GADCO to forward integrate into food processing, starting with an investment in a state-of-the-art rice mill, allowing GADCO and its smallholders to create an integrated value chain for its Copa branded food products”. GADCO now operates the largest commercial rice farm in West Africa and will begin to diversify its crop and food product mix from 2013.

Commenting on the investment, the Chairman of GADCO, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown added: “We are delighted to receive an investment from AATIF as we continue to expand our operations. GADCO’s Copa Connect program is uniquely designed to integrate smallholders into competitive and inclusive food value chains, which is not only essential for lifting smallholders out of poverty, but also for building regional solutions for food security and broad based economic development”.

Source: Acumen Fund Blog (link opens in a new window)

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