The African Development Bank and Mastercard have announced the launch of the Kenya Country Chapter of the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance: Africa. The Kenya chapter held its inaugural meeting on the sidelines of the "Scaling Finance for Smallholder Farmers in Africa" conference co-organized by the African Development Bank and the Pan-African Farmers Organization. The inaugural meeting gathered MADE Alliance: Africa members, along with agriculture ministers from Eswatini, Liberia, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone.
In his keynote address, African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina highlighted the Bank's $300-million commitment to the first five years of MADE Alliance: Africa's programming. The initiative aims to integrate three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria into the digital economy through Mastercard's Community Pass platform. This digital credential system connects farmers with buyers, input suppliers, and financial institutions, enhancing their access to essential agricultural services.
"We are on to something that is incredible and transformational to creating a powerful model for strategic, action-oriented partnerships as well as impactful resource mobilization that will transform the lives and ecosystems around smallholder farmers and around agriculture," said Adesina, who co-chairs MADE Alliance: Africa with Mastercard Vice Chair and President of Strategic Growth, Jon Huntsman.
In addressing gender disparities, Adesina highlighted the Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, which has already approved more than $2.5 billion in financing for women-led businesses across the continent. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 37 percent of women have bank accounts compared to 48 percent of men.
Digital tools offer a scalable solution to bridge this financial inclusion gap, providing women entrepreneurs greater access to capital and business growth opportunities.
Dr. Beth Dunford, African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, and Ricardo Pareja, Senior Vice President, Sales & Markets, Community Pass at Mastercard, facilitated the Kenya Country Chapter meeting. The meeting provided a platform for MADE Alliance: Africa partners to engage with government officials on aligning the initiative's programs with the national agricultural agenda.
Commenting on why Mastercard would go into the agriculture space, Pareja said: "We aim to digitize payments, and we focus on segments; agriculture is just another segment, and it is all cash. As a consequence, farmers and other agriculture stakeholders are invisible to the formal economy. Our focus is to bring them all into the formal economy."
The meeting also showcased "proof of concept" projects in Kenya and Tanzania, illustrating effective partnership models that drive digital access to essential services. Alongside the African Development Bank, presentations from Heifer International, Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, and the Kenya National Farmers' Federation underscored the initiative's collaborative approach.
Participants identified opportunities to align MADE Alliance: Africa programs with government initiatives and digital programs, particularly those focused on empowering rural youth and women. Ministers expressed interest in scaling the programs within their respective countries and fostering private-sector collaborations to strengthen support for smallholder farmers. Discussions also covered investment strategies and fundraising efforts required to expand the initiative's reach.
The MADE Alliance: Africa aims to mobilize public and private sector resources to provide digital access to critical services for 100 million businesses and individuals across Africa over the next decade. The initiative's core objectives include facilitating commercial transactions, increasing access to affordable financial services, providing high-speed internet, enabling catalytic financing, and leveraging government-led farmer digital registration initiatives to enhance agricultural productivity.
By digitizing the agricultural sector, the initiative aims to help increase farmers' access to financing, improve productivity, and drive higher incomes for farmers and agribusinesses. It will initially focus on agriculture and women's economic empowerment. Notably, Africa's smallholder farmers supply approximately 80 percent of the continent's food.
Apart from the African Development Bank and Mastercard, MADE Alliance: Africa's membership includes Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, Heifer International, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, Unconnected.org, Yara, Kenya National Farmers' Federation, Shell Foundation, and CRDB Bank.
Click Here for more photos.
