Côte d’Ivoire: AfDB commits US$10m to boost food security in Africa

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) today approved US$10 million equity investment in Phatisa Food Fund2 (PFF2) to boost agriculture and nutrition across Africa.

PFF2 is a second generation Fund which builds on the success of its predecessor African Agriculture Fund (AAF), sponsored by AfDB along with other DFIs including the French Development Agency (AFD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID).

Phatisa, PFF2s fund manager, is a South-Africa based private-equity, corporate finance and advisory company operating across Africa, incorporated in January 2008 as a limited company in Mauritius.

“Phatisa” is Xhosa word for “helping to carry.” PFF2 is targeting a capitalization of US$ 300 million to invest across Africa with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is projected to cover the entire African continent, with a sharper focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on its presence in South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia, Mauritius and London and a new office opening in Côte d’Ivoire.

Presently, the Fund targets average investment amounts of US$ 20 million in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa;  Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa.

PFF2 will focus on food/consumer related investments including integrated food production, processing, services and inputs (seed, fertilizer & chemicals), mechanization, distribution, logistics and infrastructure, packaging, food services and retail.

Considering the largely underserved needs of agricultural financing in Africa, the Fund’s investment policy entails that the deployment of equity or quasi equity instruments to provide expansion capital in the majority of the cases.

PPF2’s investment strategy is aligned with the Bank’s High5 priorities of feeding and industrializing Africa. It is in line with the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy, focusing on inclusive growth, strengthening agriculture and food security, and access to local finance, among other Bank strategies as well as government agriculture and agro-industry policies across African countries.