Yield Uganda Investment Fund has launched a Shs 34 billion investment fund for agribusinesses in Uganda, a further boost for a sector that does not attract much financing.
With the launch, the agribusiness impact fund has now hit the €20 million (Shs 85 billion) mark in total commitments. This took place on June 27 at Kampala Sheraton hotel and it comes on the back of new funding partners such as the Soros Economic Development Fund, part of Open Society Foundations (OSF) and FCA Investments (FCAI).
The fund targets agriculture-related businesses across all value chains, including the supply of agricultural inputs, production and agro-processing within all sub-sectors, post-harvest storage and distribution, but also peripheral activities such as transportation, communications and certification.
Gabriel Ajedra, the state minister for Finance, General Duties, expressed his gratitude with the new increase in the fund because the fund is wholly dedicated to providing capital through debt and equity to agriculture-related businesses across all value chains in Uganda.
Attilio Pacifici, the EU ambassador to Uganda, said the main reason for the creation for Yield Uganda Investment Fund has been to mobilize investments for the agro industrialization of Uganda.
Ambassador Pacifici added that the EU was aiming at attracting capital into Uganda to foster development in agriculture, trade and industrialization. An industrialized agriculture sector shall improve the export earnings of Uganda. This is so because Uganda majorly exports raw materials instead of final goods with added value.
Yield Uganda Investment Fund was established by Deloitte Uganda and Pearl Capital Partners Uganda (PCP) and it is a partnership between public and private investors. The fund offers innovative and tailored financial solutions, using equity, semi-equity and debt, to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) having the potential to generate both strong financial returns and significant social impact in Uganda.
It is currently managed by Pearl Capital Partners Uganda with the mandate of making investments in the range of €250,000 to €2 million (approx. Shs 1 billion to Shs 8.5 billion).