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The Smallholder-Supermarket Disconnect: Addressing the Missing Links that Separate East African Farmers from Formal Retail Markets
Smallholder farmers are the backbone of East African agriculture, accounting for approximately 75% of production in several countries. At the same time, formal food retail is expanding across the region. Yet as Daniel Njiwa at AGRA and Kris Ansin and Audrey Tsoi at TechnoServe explain, despite this alignment, the formal retail market remains inaccessible to many smallholder farmers, as a range of barriers prevent them from supplying these vendors. They share learnings from a pilot program that highlighted some of these constraints, and explore how supermarkets can work through aggregators that consolidate and coordinate supply from multiple farmers to source smallholder produce at scale.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Indian E-Bike Rental Startup Yulu Raises $93 Million to Help Fund Expansion
Electric mobility firms including Yulu have benefited from fast growth in India's quick commerce and e-commerce sectors, as delivery workers increasingly shift to battery-powered vehicles that cost less to run and reduce exposure to fuel price swings.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Mini-grids May Not Be the Answer: Why Shifts in Technology and Funding Have Changed the Energy Access Outlook in Africa
There is intense pressure to reach universal energy access by 2030, which requires a further 666 million people to be electrified, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. And according to Stewart Hicks at Bamboo Capital Partners, mini-grids are often viewed as a key part of the solution, leading to growing calls for more private sector investment in this technology. But he argues that this focus on mini-grids may be distracting from faster, more cost-effective approaches. He explains why mini-grids — despite being a good solution in some areas — have several under-reported constraints, and explores some emerging alternative electrification models that may present a more realistic path toward greater energy access in Africa.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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Beanstalk AgTech Announces the Launch of Monsoon Ventures to Accelerate Agtech Commercialisation in Southeast Asia
The studio will invest capital, recruit complementary commercial expertise, map value chain pathways, and help ventures attract the right investors or strategic partnerships with regional players.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Nigeria’s Federal Government Targets One Million MSMEs, 50,000 Jobs With Renewable Energy Programme
". . . the minister said the programme would deploy renewable energy solutions to one million businesses, reduce production costs for MSMEs, expand financial inclusion and promote inclusive economic growth."
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Wind and Solar Projects in Kenya and South Africa Don’t Always Benefit the Communities That Host Them – Study
If green energy investments are to deliver on their promise of development, governments and investors need to start by asking communities what they consider a fair deal. Land, livelihoods, culture and ways of life may be just as important as financial returns.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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IFC Supports Expansion of Financing for Kenya’s Small Businesses through the First Catalytic First Loss Guarantee Transactions in Africa
The CFLG is an innovative program delivered under IFC's $4 billion MSME Platform, enabling IFC to provide first-loss coverage to partner financial institutions by leveraging blended finance through the International Development Association's Private Sector Window (IDA PSW).
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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ANDE’s Next Chapter
Announcement via ANDE, "To keep ANDE strong for the long term, we are transitioning to a digital-first operating model."
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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