Finnfund has granted Agflow Poultry, owner of EthioChicken, a $10m loan to support the development and expansion of the company's operations in Ethiopia.

“EthioChicken is doing important work, and we are glad that we can finance the development and expansion of their operations. Improving food security and job creation, particularly for the young, are playing a key role in the development of Ethiopia and the region as a whole," said Jaakko Kangasniemi, Finnfund's Managing Director.

Currently, the company operates three poultry farms, where it produces chicks. 

It sells the chicks to agents, who are often young people under 30 years old and with university degrees. 

Their task is to grow and sell the chicks when they are around 4-6 weeks old to families, who are then able to produce eggs and chicken meat both for their own use and for sale. Approximately 85% of the end customers live in rural areas. Usually, the chickens are taken care by the mothers among other home work. 

The agents, together with governmental agricultural experts also give training on chicken breeding.

EthioChicken focuses on breeds that are more profitable than indigenous Ethiopian chicken breeds; for example, they grow faster and produce eggs more. 

The company has gained international attention and praise for their work.  

Improving food security is particularly important in Ethiopia, which is among the world's poorest countries. 

”The business model of EthioChicken is almost unique in Africa; it is the only poultry company that has succeeded on a large scale to reach specifically rural households while being able to operate profitably,” said Jari Matero, Senior Investment Manager at Finnfund.

Established in 2010, EthioChicken has already produced and sold 13 million chicks in Ethiopia. 

The company currently employs directly more than 700 people, of whom 40% are women. 

In addition, the company cooperates with approximately 1800 agents employing thousands of people. 

When the number of households buying the chickens are added to this, it can be estimated that the company positively affected for example in 2016, up to 1.6 million households, or more than 6 million Ethiopians.

David Ellis, CEO of EthioChicken, said: “This investment from Finnfund will allow us to invest in more poultry houses, incubators, feed processing machinery, along with investments which will further strengthen the hygiene, sanitation, health, and safety of our workplace.” 

“This will enable us to move closer to our vision of one chicken per person per year in Ethiopia in a sustainable way,” he said.