USAID/Uganda Agribusiness Development Facility

PCP Contacts Wiem A. BernetPCP UgandaP.O. Pox 15373Kampala, UgandaTel: +256 312 264983/4wiem.bernet@pearlcapital.net

Diana NjugunaPCP KenyaP.O. Box 21891-00505Nairobi, KenyaTel: +254 727 405984diana.njuguna@pearlcapital.net

OVERVIEW The African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF) was launched by Pearl Capital Partners (PCP) in September 2011 with investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, JP Morgan Social Investing, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. The AACF has two principal objectives; the financial objective is to deliver a competitive financial return to its investors by investing in high quality businesses operating in the agriculture value chain in East Africa; the social objective is to positively affect at least 250,000 smallholder farmer households by increasing individual household income by at least $80 per household per year. In order to support its social objective, USAID Uganda has provided a $1.5 million grant, the Agribusiness Development Facility, to PCP to enable PCP to finance technical assistance and business development support to AACF investee companies to support their growth and enable them to better deliver products, services and markets to smallholder households in East Africa. RATIONALE

BDM SUPPORT AREAS INCLUDE: Finance and Cost Management, Administration and Operations, Human Resource Management, Administration, Sales and Marketing, Corporate Governance, Business Management Best Practices, Accounting and Book Keeping, Weather Forecasting and Insurance, and Specialized Agricultural fields such as Agronomy. SUPPORT TEAM The Team consists of highly qualified small and medium enterprises (SME) consultants from the East African region. SUPPORT REQUEST GUIDELINES: A proposal outlining the need requirements of the enterprise and the respective financial cost in each area must be submitted.

The BDM support is financed through a cost sharing arrangement between the respective investee companies and PCP Uganda.

The Facility is designed to help investee enterprises achieve successfulusi-ness growth and expansion. While access to capital is a necessary condition for business growth and expansion, it is not sufficient alone. Entrepreneurs need access to high quality Business Development and Management Support (BDM), particularly in the areas of improving business administra-tion (policies, procedures, internal controls) and financial management systems. Business Development Support is essential for business growth, and hence for building successful businesses. The USAID Uganda support directly benefits organizations through marked business performance improvement in the short, medium and long term.

Pearl Capital Partnerswww.pearlcapital.net

U.S Agency for international Developmentwww.usaid.gov

USAID Contact David Rogers USAID/Uganda P.O. Box 7856 Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256-414-387387 drogers@usaid.gov