The Nutritious Foods Financing Facility has secured $11 million in catalytic first-loss capital from USAID and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to invest in small businesses in Africa boosting local access to nutritious foods through processing, transport and distribution.
Belgian impact investor Incofin partnered in 2020 with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, or GAIN, to design an investment fund to fight malnourishment and food insecurity in Africa. The anchor investment will allow the open-ended fund, called N3F, to deploy capital and build a track record while fundraising toward its $30 million target.
N3F aims to pair its investment capital with technical assistance funding.
Investing in nutrition
Investment in food and agriculture in Africa “has often neglected healthy dietary needs, focusing instead on crops for export or staple foods,” observes GAIN’s Roberta Bove. “We aim to support entrepreneurs who deliver most of the food to local consumers and make diets healthier.”
Incofin seeks to supply “over 514 million additional servings of nutritious food, benefiting more than seven million lower-income people over the next decade.”
USAID provided grant funding to develop N3F’s theory of change and impact framework. Without the initial funding from USAID, the Swiss agency wouldn’t have participated, said USAID’s Songbae Lee. “Without SDC, the fund would not have reached its minimum first close target.”
Lee credited his colleague Rebecca Egan’s work on the deal.
