Yesterday, I joined the panel on Building Sustainable Financing Models for Smallholder Farmers and Agricultural Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Agri-MSMEs) at the GlobalG.A.P. Tour Stop Conference by Rootooba Limited.

One statistic struck me deeply: Kenya’s commercial banks allocate approximately 4% of their lending to agriculture. This is despite the sector contributing 30–40% of GDP and employing about 40% of the workforce. The gap is devastating!

This reality highlights the urgency of the work we do at TCA. With support from the European Union through the BEEEP Programme, implemented by TradeMark Africa, we are piloting uncollateralised trade finance solutions for SMEs in the horticulture value chain.

It’s a start, but it also highlights just how big the task of addressing MSME access to finance really is.

 I applaud the efforts of my fellow panellists and ecosystem partners, Absa Group, IFC – International Finance Corporation, Avenews, MSC (MicroSave Consulting), and many others, who are advancing solutions for farmers and agribusinesses because closing this gap requires an ecosystem.