Women and youths in agribusiness are set to benefit from a US$1 million revolving fund unveiled in Harare recently by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Development Trust (ZADT), the British Embassy and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The British Embassy contributed £500 000 (US$654 585) while ZADT chipped in with US$500 000 to provide the much-needed seed capital to support commercially viable agribusiness ventures. Sweden, on the one hand funded capacity building activities targeting youths and women-led enterprises development.
Dubbed 'Creating Adaptable and Unique Systems for Financing Entrepreneurial Women and Youth (CAUSEWAY), the revolving fund is meant to empower youths and women who are largely touted as the force behind the growing agricultural production.
RBZ deputy governor Dr Jesimen Chipika emphasised the importance of the initiative, saying it was crucial for the financial inclusion of these disadvantaged groups and sustainable agricultural growth.
British Embassy development director and Deputy Ambassador, Dr Joanne Abbot, praised the initiative saying the CAUSEWAY project would empower Zimbabwe's women and youths to lead the change in transforming the agriculture sector.
Said Dr Abbot: "We know access to finance is a critical enabler of economic growth and job creation and World Bank private sector diagnostics tell us that restricted access to finance is one of the main constraints for private sector development and growth. So, this facility is addressing this constraint head on in order to unlock growth. We look forward to the utilisation of the revolving fund by various financial institutions, to grow green businesses in Zimbabwe that will create and improve jobs and livelihoods especially for Zimbabwean women and youth."
ZADT chief executive officer, Mr Godfrey Chinoera, said the partnership between ZADT, the British and Swedish embassies and RBZ was a vital milestone in creating an inclusive financing system that supported the ambitions of young and female entrepreneurs across Zimbabwe.
ZADT communications officer, Miss Karen Maturure, said that representatives from financial institutions, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and smallholder farmers shared insights on the challenges and opportunities for agribusiness financing during panel discussions.
"The discussions emphasised the need for sustained collaborations between public and private sectors to ensure the long-term success of the CAUSEWAY initiative.
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"The revolving fund will be administered in partnership with local commercial and micro-finance institutions and revolves around capacity-building activities, business incubation and mentorship for youth and women entrepreneurs," she said.
The fund is open to men between 18 and 35 years while for women it covers both youths (18-35 years) and those over 35, up to 65 years.
One can access the funds through partner financial institutions that have signed for the facility as a loan that needs to be repaid in the shortest possible period and benefit many beneficiaries.
"Currently four commercial banks and six micro-finance institutions have signed up and will receive technical capacity building on lending to rural and peri-urban enterprises (inclusive financial services) but we are still in discussion with others.
"AFC Holdings and some micro-finance institutions are already giving beneficiaries working capital loans under the value-chain approach and the shorter the repayment period, the better the outreach," she said.
ZADT is a non-profit agricultural finance institution, which promotes sustainable agricultural development by providing innovative financing solutions, capacity building and mentorship for agribusiness entrepreneurs while CAUSEWAY is a three-year initiative aimed at improving access to finance for women and youth-led agro enterprises in Zimbabwe.
