Unlocking the potential of small agrifood enterprises to accelerate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals

A new FAO publication, Turning purpose into impact for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals – Achievements, lessons learned and recommendations from the FAO SDG Agrifood Accelerator Programme, shows how small, purpose-driven agrifood enterprises can drive meaningful change across local agrifood systems to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report documents a two-year pilot initiative implemented by the FAO Office of Sustainable Development Goals. Launched in 2023, the SDG Agrifood Accelerator Programme supported eleven eco-inclusive micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from eight low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa and Asia to grow their businesses while advancing the SDGs locally. The Programme was implemented with technical support from SEED.

The power of purpose-driven small enterprises

The publication outlines the transformative potential of small agrifood enterprises, particularly those with a clear social and environmental purpose. Deeply rooted in their local contexts, eco-inclusive MSMEs are well-positioned to understand the specific challenges facing their communities and to co-develop inclusive, innovative responses that simultaneously generate economic, social and environmental benefits.

Despite making up over 90 percent of businesses globally and accounting for more than half of agrifood jobs and food supply, the potential of MSMEs remains largely untapped due to, for example, limited access to finance, weak technical capacities and exclusion from high-level policy discussions.

The SDG Agrifood Accelerator Programme demonstrated however that with targeted and modest support, such purpose-driven enterprises can deliver scalable, high-impact solutions, and do so within a short timeframe.

A two-phase methodology: capacity development and financial support

The Programme was implemented in two phases. The first offered tailored capacity development through individual needs assessments, personalized roadmaps, peer-learning workshops and one-on-one mentoring, focused on financial readiness, innovation and market reach. The enterprises developed pitch decks, strengthened their advocacy skills, and gained visibility at high-profile events including the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktake and the World Food Forum. The enterprises also began tracking their contributions to the SDGs through a dedicated impact dashboard, providing a means to demonstrate accountability and impact to partners and investors.

In the second phase, three enterprises received modest grants to implement targeted product development and market access projects.

• AMAATI in Ghana developed nutritious biscuits combining fonio grain and locust bean leaf, generating new income for rural women farmers during the dry season while contributing to soil regeneration and climate resilience.
• Gorilla Conservation Coffee in Uganda trained 500 smallholder farmers in sustainable agriculture and post-harvest handling, planted over 7,000 shade trees, and built local processing infrastructure — reducing post-harvest losses while protecting mountain gorilla habitat.
• Rahsa Nusantara in Indonesia developed and certified a moringa-based nutritional drink for pregnant and breastfeeding women, trained over 100 local farmers in sustainable practices and export readiness, and engaged more than 600 community members through nutrition education campaigns.

Lessons, recommendations and the path forward

The report draws on the lessons learnt from the Programme applicable to future initiative. The core methodology, of combining tailored capacity development with showcasing opportunities and modest financial support proved robust, replicable and adaptable across diverse contexts, offering a strong foundation for scaling up efforts to drive inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems transformation.

The report further highlights actionable strategies for replicating successful approaches, including promoting public-private-research partnerships to drive innovation, improving access to finance to expand market reach, and strengthening capacity development to enhance sustainability and maximize impact.

The report also underlined FAO's comparative advantage in this space: its ability to combine technical expertise, convening power and financial support to bridge capacity development and business scaling for agrifood MSMEs, making FAO well-positioned to support the growth of individual enterprises as well as foster systemic change in agrifood systems by connecting businesses to markets, investors and policy frameworks.

Read the publication now: https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd9673en