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How can we grow African agribusiness? How do FAO and UNIDO assist governments in attracting sustainable and responsible investment? How do we de-risk what appears to be risky business? How can we seize opportunities and overcome challenges?

These are just some of the key questions tackled by more than 130 participants from 35 African FAO and UNIDO country teams, together with government and local-partner counterparts, in a lively online grow agribusiness workshop series (password: CDW2020) last week alongside representatives from the European Commission, IFAD, the World Economic Forum, ACELI, Bamboo Capital, SAFIN and Convergence.

The joint FAO–UNIDO event promoted food-systems thinking through sustainable value-chain approaches, fostered a common understanding of how to promote and design partnerships in the agribusiness sector and shared extensive knowledge and lessons learned on the ground.

The daily discussions unpicked the vital ingredients or building blocks for growing agribusinesses, with scope for interaction from many countries on the enabling environment, technical advice and innovative solutions, de-risking through blended finance, responsible investment for SDG impact, including land tenure, women and youth inclusion and climate change.

Jocelyn Brown-Hall (RAF), and Dejene Tezera of UNIDO opened the event which laid out the opportunities and challenges of growing African agribusiness. These range from access to finance to land tenure and now, COVID-19. A lively discussion underscored opportunities and untapped potential, including local and export markets, Africa’s vibrant youth bubble and the farmers themselves, who are already making the biggest investment. FAO and UNIDO experts shared 3ADI+ and AgrInvest approaches with multiple stakeholders in a wide range of countries, as well as sustainable value-chain techniques. Examples were shared from all over Africa, where work on value chains ranges from the poultry and dairy sectors to palm oil, highlighting the key ingredients to success while managing trade-offs for a viable food-systems approach.

Speakers added their voices from an agri-investment group perspective, challenging FAO and UNIDO to adopt a more commercial mindset, stressing that financial criteria must be considered alongside development criteria for investment leverage. Participants were prompted to consider -

how to increase partnerships and investments in food and agribusiness
how to reduce the risks, such as by identifying and supporting the identification of viable and credible pipelines
how to attract multi-stakeholder dialogue without taking up too much private-sector time
while continuing to advocate (loudly) for sustainable and inclusive food systems, where the triple bottom line is good for business
in the context of COVID-19, how SMEs need additional support for recovery and building back better.
To rise to the challenge, Alexander Jones (Director PSR) and Kai Bethke of UNIDO shared ideas and advice on how to attract resource partners to this area of work. “Many of our partners, both traditional and emerging, are keen to invest in growing agribusiness – because it is good development business – triangulating joint aims between governments, development partners and the private sector,” Alexander said.

Ade Freeman (RAF), and Ali Badarneh from UNIDO, closed the event by concluding that extensive partnerships are needed to do this job (FAO, UNIDO, governments, financial institutions, the private sector and civil society) and, to do this, we need a new business model. FAO and UNIDO play a key role as convenors, policy experts and technical advisors. Both Ade and Ali stressed that “we must not only identify markets, we must secure them to attract investments for sustainable agrifood chains”.

Roy Machoko (FAOSFS), summarised the event as “one of the richest agribusiness workshops in terms of composition and quality of presenters. A great opportunity to e-meet and interact on agribusiness, investments and value-chain development. It clearly dictates the need for effective partnership in the agriculture transformation agenda”.

Mary Thiongo (FAOKE), liked the “high-quality presentations and practical case studies. My highlight was the 3ADI+ approach for value-chain analysis. The knowledge gained will help my analysis to focus more on establishing a value chain's potential to create jobs and its potential for yielding high returns on investment. I loved spending my nine hours online!”

For more information and resources, please access the workshop here (password: CDW2020).

Watch the video grow agribusiness by FAO and UNIDO here.