The Good Food Innovation Fund names a cohort of SMEs committed to 'good food'
Summary
The aim of the foundation is to make such food products more affordable and accessible in the country Sub-Saharan Africa supporting the companies that grow, distribute and provide this food.A fund managed by a consulting firm focused on social impact Intellecapwas launched in 2021 with a $5 million grant from The Rockefeller Foundation.The seven SMEs selected from 144 applications include: Agricultural center (Agriface) from Rwanda, which works to provide schools with fortified whole grains through the government nutrition program Muteesa Company of Rwanda, providing post-harvest services and technology to farmers to help them access high-value markets Keep coola Kenyan company offering solar cooling solutions to minimize food waste for farmers and food vendors Sankaa Kenyan company that installs a Sanku dispenser in flour mills, a device that adds precise ratios of important nutrients to flour Shalem Investmentsa Kenyan company that provides services and inputs to smallholder farmers and then buys their produce to sell in predetermined markets Smart logistics solutionsa Kenyan producer of bean-based products such as zinc and iron-fortified noodles and cereals.The cohort will receive up to $1 million in funding, with each startup receiving between $100,000 and $200,000. The lower threshold of $50,000 is considered due to the small size of the companies and their ability to properly manage the funds.In addition to financing, the fund will provide technical support in creating financial models and growth forecasts. AFN.Theres also a mix of portfolios in terms of the impact that these organizations expect because we have some that have very high potential to scale and achieve the numbers that were targeting.The project is also aimed at positive changes in food policy in individual countries. Also for them, being on the ground, they have experience in terms of the type of organizations that are in the market and what kind of support they require.GFIF will call for the next cohort in November, expanding the list of countries to include Ghana and Benin. This time, the focus of innovation will be on vertically integrated solutions such as logistics, post-harvest processing, distribution and retail.Our intervention should go a long way in de-risking these companies so that they can access new markets that they would otherwise not be able to enter, perhaps because of perceived risk, notes Mulehi.