By Eve Muthoni
Trade Catalyst Africa recently joined lenders, insurers, and trade finance specialists for a critical discussion on bridging the financing gap in high-risk sectors. As a key export sector, fisheries sits within TCA’s trade finance mandate.
Kevin Karanja, Investment Analyst at TCA, was on the panel at the Kenya National Fisheries Access to Finance Workshop held in Nairobi last month. With grant fundinglong the safety net for high-risk value chains, shrinking, Karanja argued that the current gap must be filled by innovative structures that make such sectors attractive to private capital, including banks, for financing.
He pointed to TCA’s role in de-risking investments by blending grant, concessional, and private capital; structuring bankable projects in trade infrastructure and finance; and demonstrating proof of concept to attract further financing. “Private capital does not flow where risk is not well understood or priced,” said Karanja.
Turning to the fisheries sector, Karanja noted that solutions must be built around the actual constraints in the value chain, stressing that the starting point is understanding the pain points in the sector and designing financing solutions around them. These include weak aggregation and market linkages; informality that limits traceability and market access; and inadequate cold-chain and logistics infrastructure, which drive post-harvest losses and inconsistent product quality. Until financing is designed around these realities, he argued, solutions will not move the needle.
Karanja also pointed to the growing role of technology in improving access to finance, particularly in a sector where many women- and youth-led businesses operate informally, lack collateral, and face seasonal cash flows. For instance, AI-enabled credit scoring can assess risk more accurately and faster, enabling lenders to direct more capital to reach the people who need it most.
As the discussion underscored, unlocking the fisheries sector will require capital, stronger partnerships, and financing models built around real market conditions. For TCA, the focus remains making high-potential export sectors bankable, investable, and scalable.
