Sahel Capital, a prominent investor in the food and agriculture sector in sub-Sahara Africa, has successfully approved a $2.4m working capital loan from its Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA) facility.

Launched in 2021 with KfW as the anchor investor, SEFAA aims to stimulate economic activities among smallholder farmers by empowering the social enterprises that engage with them. 

KKL, a Licensed Buying Company (LBC) based in Ghana, play a crucial role in the cocoa bean supply chain.

It is largely owned by KKFU, the largest farmer cooperative in West Africa, which comprises 100,000 certified farmers.

KKL purchases cocoa beans from these farmers and supplies them to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), which is responsible for exporting the beans to international buyers at a pre-determined price. 

“KKFU is an impressive farmer unit that has grown over the years into a massive, well-run cooperative that guarantees its farmers premium pricing for their certified cocoa beans,” said Deji Adebusoye, a Partner at Sahel Capital. “We wanted to ensure that the farmers have continued access to the market, so we provided capital to KKL who will leverage it to offtake beans from the SHFs in their network. 

Emmanuel Arthur, Managing Director of KKL, sees this investment as an opportunity to help more farmers benefit from the increasing price of cocoa beans.

“Ghana’s government has increased the purchase price of Cocoa, which means LBCs will need more financing to buy these cocoa beans from the farmers. We are fortunate and excited to have been able to access SEFAA as it places us in a strong position to offtake the cocoa beans from the farmers,” he said. 

Sahel Capital currently manages two funds: Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), which has investments in SME agribusinesses in Nigeria, and Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA), which provides primarily structured debt to agribusiness SMEs across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sahel Capital is also raising capital for a successor fund – Sahel Capital Agribusiness Fund II, which will focus on investment opportunities across West Africa.