ImpactAlpha, October 18 – The MCE Empowering Sustainable Agriculture fund, or MESA, builds on MCE Capital’s 17 years of support for small agribusinesses and rural financial services. MESA is focusing at the nexus of gender and climate issues with loans to agri-organizations and farmer finance institutions that improve smallholder farmers’ climate resilience and create economic opportunities for women.
The US International Development Finance Corp. and Ceniarth anchored the fund with $19.5 million in February. Dutch development bank FMO added $10 million. ImpactAssets, the Visa Foundation, Blink CV, Imago Dei Fund, Sall Family Foundation and Heading for Change helped MESA get to a final close.
Financing farmers
Smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America face a $170 billion annual financing gap. Since 2006, San Francisco-based MCE has invested $300 million in organizations serving smallholder farmers in Africa and Latin America. It says its portfolio companies serve 12 million people.
MESA plans to finance roughly 35 agribusinesses and finance organizations over the next nine years.
