Standard Bank has been named the winner of the Africa Investor Agribusiness Award for 2010 for its commitment to help develop a strong African economy.
Standard Bank won in the Development Finance Initiative category for its groundbreaking Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme that has improved access to finance to smallholder farmers in Africa.
The Agribusiness Awards recognize achievements across the main agribusiness and finance sectors in Africa and reward the personalities driving transactions and improving the continent’s agribusiness investment climate. The awards also emphasize the important need to invest in developing Africa’s agribusiness sector.
“The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme demonstrates Standard Bank’s commitment to creating, with fellow stakeholders, workable solutions to the obstacles that hamper African development. We believe this award is an acknowledgement to that commitment” said Clive Tasker, Standard Bank Africa CEO in a press release.
“It is not very often that we can be part of initiatives that make a difference to the lives of people on many levels. We are fortunate here to see an impact that permeates across many spheres, from sustainability, economic development and growth, to job creation and poverty alleviation,” he added.
Standard Bank’s winning initiative, The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme, is an innovative fund for Africa’s smallholder farmers and was created by a partnership between Standard Bank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), OPEC Fund for International Development, Kilimo Trust, Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique, Ministry of Agriculture Mozambique and The Millennium Development Authority.
Initiated in March 2009, the US$100 million scheme aims to reach about 750,000 small farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda over three years. Under the scheme, the partners provide a Risk guarantee while Standard Bank provides the funding for lending. This partnership is the single largest facility targeting smallholder agriculture by a bank.
The aim of the scheme is to open up access to finance for the agricultural sector in Africa as this has been a major constraint to unlocking the potential of agriculture on the continent.
Standard Bank won in the Development Finance Initiative category for its groundbreaking Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme that has improved access to finance to smallholder farmers in Africa.
The Agribusiness Awards recognize achievements across the main agribusiness and finance sectors in Africa and reward the personalities driving transactions and improving the continent’s agribusiness investment climate. The awards also emphasize the important need to invest in developing Africa’s agribusiness sector.
“The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme demonstrates Standard Bank’s commitment to creating, with fellow stakeholders, workable solutions to the obstacles that hamper African development. We believe this award is an acknowledgement to that commitment” said Clive Tasker, Standard Bank Africa CEO in a press release.
“It is not very often that we can be part of initiatives that make a difference to the lives of people on many levels. We are fortunate here to see an impact that permeates across many spheres, from sustainability, economic development and growth, to job creation and poverty alleviation,” he added.
Standard Bank’s winning initiative, The Agricultural Guarantee Fund Scheme, is an innovative fund for Africa’s smallholder farmers and was created by a partnership between Standard Bank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), OPEC Fund for International Development, Kilimo Trust, Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique, Ministry of Agriculture Mozambique and The Millennium Development Authority.
Initiated in March 2009, the US$100 million scheme aims to reach about 750,000 small farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda over three years. Under the scheme, the partners provide a Risk guarantee while Standard Bank provides the funding for lending. This partnership is the single largest facility targeting smallholder agriculture by a bank.
The aim of the scheme is to open up access to finance for the agricultural sector in Africa as this has been a major constraint to unlocking the potential of agriculture on the continent.
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