Selected small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agricultural sector will receive support from the fund, including grants ranging from $500,000 to $2,500,000, disbursed over a 3-year period.
Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity, a new fund established after the success of the foundation’s “rural prosperity” fund, has launched an agribusiness challenge to support SMEs in the agriculture sector.
With a focus on creating job opportunities for young women and men, young persons with disabilities, and refugee youth, the selected SMEs will benefit from tailored technical assistance and grants ranging from $500,000 to $2,500,000, disbursed over a 3-year period. This support will be based on the applicants’ development stage, scalability, business model, and in accordance with agreed periodic milestone targets.
“The agriculture sector presents great opportunities for innovative SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa to grow, with opportunities to create dignified and fulfilling work for young people, especially young women, young persons with disabilities and refugee youth,” Mrs. Smita Sanghrajka, Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity engagement partner, said.
She further emphasized that “agri-SMEs” in Sub-Saharan Africa lack sufficient financial support to scale and require capacity building to improve business practices and become investor-ready.
“The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity offers a fantastic opportunity for SMEs looking for support to expand and simultaneously generate employment for the youth,” said Mr. Daniel Hailu, Executive Director of Pan-African Programs at the Mastercard Foundation.
The initiative, which is in line with the foundation’s “Young Africa Works Strategy”, targets
SMEs in 20 Sub-Saharan Africa countries: Kenya, Benin, Burundi, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte
d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The call for proposals is currently open and will close on November 22, 2024, with periodic
collections of applications to be assessed every 12 weeks.
The Challenge will be open to SME applications as long as they meet the eligibility criteria
and their projects are being implemented in at least one of the 20 focus countries the Fund
is targeting. Unsuccessful applicants will have the opportunity to refine and resubmit their
applications for subsequent collections.
Potential applicants can register and access the application platform through the fund
website, which is, www.frp.org
Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organization separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership.
