About UsWho We are
Who We AreThe Fund Manager
AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund is implemented by Self Help Africa with technical support from Imani Development Limited.
Self Help Africa (SHA) is a leading international development organisation based in Nairobi with headquarters in Ireland and offices in the United Kingdom and United States of America. Globally, Self Help Africa has operations in 9 countries across East, Southern and West Africa. We work with smallholder farmers, farmer associations, cooperatives and small and medium size enterprises in the agribusiness sector to help them grow and sell more agricultural commodities, improve diets, diversify incomes and make their livelihoods more sustainable and resilient to external shocks. We also work to raise awareness of smallholder farmer issues and represent their interests at policy and institutional level.
Imani Development is a private economic and development consultancy firm that facilitates the process of economic growth and poverty reduction in the developing world. Imani has been active in East and Southern Africa, the Caribbean, South East Asia and the Pacific for over 30 years, advising policy makers, governments, development agencies, regional and international organisations, and the private sector in our core areas of work.
Who We ArePARTNER
The European Investment Bank (EIB), under the same AgriFI Kenya programme, is providing long term local currency financing to Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited for on-lending to eligible food and agriculture sector projects. This facility is also available for match funding to the applicants.
Who We Areour supporters
The European Union has contributed 90% towards the AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund through the wider AgriFI programme while Slovak Aid and Self Help Africa have contributed the remaining 10%.
The European Union
The European Union has contributed 90% towards the AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund through the wider AgriFI programme.
The Government of Kenya
The Challenge Fund is part of the wider AgriFI programme funded by the EU in a financing agreement between the European Commission and the Government of Kenya under the 11th EDF signed in 2017 to unlock, accelerate and leverage investments within value chains.
SlovakAid
The AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund is also being backed, with €2.5m investment from SlovakAid, whose Business Partnership Programme supports the business sector in developing countries. SlovakAid seeks to mobilise private financial resources in order to enhance development activities and create jobs, build capacity and improve access to basic goods and services. The programme helps to establish new partnerships with local businesses, aiming at sustainable capacity building of partners. It also helps Slovak entities to access the markets in partner countries, and supports expansion of existing activities of the private sector in partner countries with emphasis on their interconnection with Slovak development interventions.
The European Investment Bank
Through the Kenya Agriculture Value Chain Facility, the EIB will extend a EUR 50 million credit line to selected commercial banks with the overarching objective of facilitating access to agrienterprises promoting integration of smallholder farmers into their value chains.
Who We AreManagement of The Challenge Fund
AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund is implemented by Self Help Africa with technical support from Imani Development Limited.
The Programme Steering Committee
The Programme Steering Committee is the oversight body of the Challenge Fund comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and other Government of Kenya bodies with representatives from the European Union and the wider AgriFI programme participating as observers.
The AgriFI Kenya Management Board
The AgriFI Kenya Management Board comprises Self Help Africa’s Chief Financial Officer, Head of Region and the Kenya Country Director as well two Executive Directors of Imani Development Representatives.
The Management Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the programme as well as the operational implementation. The Management Board will approve project concept notes based on a shortlist provided by the AFIT. The Management Board will also be overall responsible for the guiding of the technical support to applicants and ensure effective and timely disbursement of funds.
Independent Investment Committee (IIC)
The Independent Investment Committee (IIC) comprises 5-8 independent experts in the fields that relate to the core of the Challenge Fund such as agriculture, agri-finance, private sector development, investment, legal and risk management. The IIC is charged with the responsibility of making funding decisions after evaluating shortlisted full proposals. Members of the IIC will remain anonymous to stakeholders outside of the programme and to the agri-enterprise representatives to avoid possible interference in the process.
The Task Team
Comprised of senior staff from Self Help Africa and Imani Development Limited, the Task Team Team will provide quality assurance to the work done by the AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund Implementation Team (AFIT) and technical support to the Management Board in the selection of project concept notes to go through to full proposal.
The Task Team will also provide quality assurance through the review of full proposals as well as the pre-award assessment report and tools. In addition, the applicant agri-enterprises will be given an opportunity to present their full proposal to the task team where they will have the opportunity to clarify outstanding issues after which they will provide additional comments/guidance to the IIC.
The AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund Implementation Team (AFIT)
The AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund Implementation Team (AFIT) is made up of core staff of Self Help Africa and Imani Development Limited. The AFIT will manage the day to day implementation of the Challenge Fund including sourcing for pipeline through interaction with agri-enterprises and others in different fora, manage the eligibility screening and evaluation of the project concept notes at the initial stage. AFIT will work with agri-enterprises during the full proposal stage to ensure timely and quality submission of business plans as well as be a key part of the pre-award assessment team. The AFIT team will also be leading some of the Technical Advisory work and contribute to the monitoring efforts at agri-enterprise level.
AFIT works under the operational guidance of the Fund Manager and the Management Board and serves as the secretariat to the IIC and the PSC as well as the Management Board.
The External Compliance Partner
This is an independent contracted auditor who sits in as an observer at IIC meetings, along with representatives from the PSC if requested. The External Compliance Partner reports to the Management Board to ensure separation and independence and will review processes and procedures and provide internal audit services to test levels of compliance with screening, appraisal, evaluation and selection systems and processes. The External Compliance Partner will perform a process audit on each round to assess compliance with the policies and procedures. The process audit will also inform any improvements to the processes.