What is the Kulima Access to Finance Project?
The Kulima Access to Finance Project is a joint initiative under the Africa Investment Platform launched by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission (EC) to improve access to suitable finance in Malawi, mainly to small and medium sized businesses active along the agriculture value chain.
The project will enable small and medium sized agrifood businesses to integrate smallholder farmers into Malawi’s agrifood value chains. Financial intermediaries participating in the project will also be able to engage in riskier projects and reach out to underserved segments of the economy.
The project receives support from the EIB and the European Commission and it is part of a wider EU programme to support the agriculture sector in Malawi.
What instruments are available?
The following instruments are available under the Kulima Access to Finance Project:
Loans to financial intermediaries committing to on-lend to eligible small and medium sized businesses.
Credit risk protection for eligible loans granted by financial intermediaries.
Strengthening the capacity of financial intermediaries to provide long-term agricultural financing and support small and medium sized businesses and smallholder farmers in various areas.
Who are the target beneficiaries?
The initiative targets small and medium sized businesses based in Malawi that are linked to the country’s agrifood value chains.
In partnership with:
Projects
The initiative enhances access to finance for small and medium agrifood businesses in Malawi.
In focus
Boosting women agri-businesses in Malawi
Joyce Banda set up WiJays in 2017, an agribusiness producing detergents and soaps using raw materials grown by local women farmers in Malawi. Her company, which applies a circular economy approach throughout its production chain and partners with distributers and supermarkets, was the winner of the jury vote at a ‘pitch night’ in the Northern City of Mzuzu organised in June 2023.
Banda also made a significant new contact at the event: her new bank, First Capital Bank Malawi, which helped her to solve her need for foreign exchange to invest in new machinery and expand her factory.
How to get support as a financial institution
If you represent a bank or a financial intermediary in Malawi, please contact the EIB to participate to the Kulima Access to Finance Project.
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