AVPA holds deal room to connect food entrepreneurs to investors
In a significant push for Nigeria’s food security, the AVPA deal room has connected impact-focused entrepreneurs across the country’s food systems with potential investors for funding opportunities.
The deal room event, which took place recently in Lagos, is organised by AVPA West Africa, a pan-African network of social investors in partnership with the GIZ’s Private Adaptation Investment Bootcamp (PrivABoo), unlocked catalytic capital for climate smart investing in Nigeria and West Africa’s agricultural landscape.
The deal room also fostered meaningful engagement between investors and agribusiness entrepreneurs to obtain feedback on how its framework can be better structured to help agriculture deliver value to the Nigerian economy.
Tochukwu Ezeukwu, regional director at AVPA WA, said capital mobilisation is a crucial pillar of the AVPA mission, noting that the organisation regularly collaborates with discerning partners such as GIZ PrivaBoo to present qualifying deals with high-impact potential to investors for investment consideration.
“Of the three businesses presented to five investors, two have received the green light for early investor talks with three of the investors in the room. The expectation is that over the next year, one of them will reach funding,” he said.
Three companies – Kitovu, Energy Assured and Green Sahara pitched to various investors in the deal room. Kitovu is an agritech company that helps smallholder farmers build and deploy climate smart post-harvest infrastructures. Energy Assured is a business that provides solar-powered pumps to farmers for irrigation.
Green Sahara is an organisation that promotes sustainable farming practices among farmers and is involved in the production of clean cooking stoves and restoring degraded lands.
Grace Nwigwe, technical advisor, GIZ PrivABoo, said that climate change is a growing concern globally, noting that it is integral to the work her organisation does.
“Our goal with the Private Adaptation Bootcamp PrvABoo was to strengthen private sector actors and to mobilise private sector finance for private sector actors in the space,” she said.
“We are grateful to the AVPA for creating a platform for exactly that. Participating businesses have had the opportunity to showcase their adaptation products and services to investors who are providing the needed inputs,” she noted.
“We believe that this kind of collaboration in the private sector is key to building resilience to climate impacts across society,” she added.
Speaking also, Chinedu Allinson, head, membership & partnerships, AVPA WA, said, “We believe partnerships are the cornerstone of mobilising capital for impact.”
“Our collaboration with GIZ on PrviABoo demonstrates how aligning missions can create pathways for private sector actors to access the finance they need, while giving investors a pipeline of solutions with real potential to build climate resilience.”
