AgriGRADE

Yesterday was a good day! Yesterday was dairy day! On February 13th, 2025, we officially launched AgriGRADE in Kenya, bringing together cooperatives, government, financial institutions, development partners, private sector players, and research institutions. The presence of Patrick Kilemi, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Cooperatives & MSMEs, highlighted the importance of this initiative. Scaling Up: MDCU’s Success Story At the heart of the discussions was Kenneth Gitonga, CEO of Meru Dairy Cooperative Union (MDCU) – Kenya’s #2 in processed milk (Mount Kenya Milk) with a 31% market share. MDCU has grown from 15,000 members in 2013 to 146,000 today, creating 1,229 jobs and driving economic transformation. Their ambition to scale aligns with AgriGRADE’s mission: ✔ Supporting cooperative growth in a data-driven way ✔ Strengthening MDCU for scalable expansion ✔ Bundling expertise to maximize impact Gitonga spoke about a “second generation of cooperatives”, innovating with farmers as shareholders, building sustainable value chains, creating jobs, and investing in climate resilience. 🔹 Government Perspective The Principal Secretary stressed aggregation and value creation to boost Kenya’s dairy sector. Despite being Africa’s second-largest producer, per capita milk production remains low due to high costs and expensive inputs. 🔹 Access to Finance – No More Lending in the Dark! Financial institutions like Cooperative Bank and Equity Bank face challenges financing cooperatives and smallholder farmers, including: High risk due to weak governance. Lack of collateral and credit history. Mismatch between financial products and farm incomes Nothing new under the sun, but what steps are being taken to elevate agro-lending? Can tools like SCOPEinsight support pre-due diligence, pipeline building, and risk prediction? Yes, Cooperative Bank responded—but only if involved in the tool’s development. This is understandable but raises a bigger question: How do we create a standardized banking profile for cooperatives? I believe a pre-competitive approach is essential to deliver financing to cooperatives and the missing middle. No excuse, the tools are there... 💡 My Closing Remarks: 🔦 Agriculture is a business. A cliché? Maybe. But only with this focus can the sector grow. 🔦 Cooperatives must maximize member value. Not all are the same—data enables differentiation. 🔦 Quality and efficiency drive success. 🌍 The Big Challenge? Agriculture is evolving fast—today’s solutions may not work tomorrow. A collaborative, data-driven framework can drive continuous improvement across production, supply chains, processing, marketing, and finance. In other words: Data as the convener for market-driven problem solvers. Let’s align, pool our expertise, resources, and… data. 🚀 Let’s AgriGRADE! Special credits to Agriterra for being a great host! IDH Oikocredit Policy and Market Options (PMO) Africa Turnaround Limited [ATL] Bart Pauwels

Last Call: Unlock the Potential of Farmer Organizations ⏳ Don’t miss our webinar where we dive into how professionalizing Farmer Organizations can transform rural economies and create lasting value. 📅 Date: 22nd Jan 2025 ⏰ Time: 14.00CET 📍 Location: Online Webinar Key Highlights: 👉 The 10x value case for professionalizing Farmer Organizations. 👉 How a systematic and market-driven approach reduces costs and scales solutions. 👉 Ways to link Farmer Organizations to finance and markets effectively. Join industry leaders, changemakers, and innovators for this game-changing conversation. Let’s reimagine rural development together. 📌 https://lnkd.in/eJaTE53f Let’s unlock potential and drive meaningful impact—together! Cees van Rij and patrick kagathi, CPA #professionalization #cooperatives #agribusinesses #accesstofinance

#Agriculturalfinance learning events. 1. Ready to Revolutionize Rural Agriculture? Farmer organisations (FOs) are the backbone of the agricultural value chain. Yet, treating them as a single, uniform group often results in wasted resources and missed opportunities. The game-changer? Segmentation. Discover how segmentation can transform your approach to working with FOs—making your interventions more targeted, impactful, and efficient. Join in exploring AgriGRADE’s cutting-edge model, designed to ✅ Boost efficiency. ✅ Align with market needs. ✅ Foster collaboration in rural economies. Click here to register: https://lnkd.in/eJaTE53f 2. Webinar: Developing a Sustainable Finance Taxonomy for the African Financial Sector. Join this pivotal webinar as AFAC advances efforts to create a Sustainable Finance Taxonomy tailored to the African financial sector. Put together by the African Financial Alliance on Climate Change (AFAC) and Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A), this webinar builds on extensive stakeholder workshops and a benchmarking exercise conducted in late 2024 and aligns with global best practices. Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/daRYNVyE 3. Unlock the Secrets of #BlendedFinance with Convergence Blended Finance "Inside the Deal" Webinar Series. Join in spotlighting the I&P Development Fund (IPDEV)—the first evergreen sponsor fund empowering pioneer African fund managers. Register here: https://lnkd.in/dU2DeQvs

Two days to go! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how professionalizing Farmer Organizations can transform rural economies, reduce costs, and enhance access to markets and finance. 📅 Date: 22nd Jan 2025 ⏰ Time: 14.00CET 🎙️ patrick kagathi, CPA || Cees van Rij Key Highlights: Discover the total value case for professionalizing Farmer Organizations. Learn how systematic, market-driven, and interoperable approaches can drive sustainable development. Hear insights on achieving cost efficiencies and scaling solutions. This #webinar is essential for anyone involved in rural development, finance, or agricultural value chains. Don’t miss out—secure your spot now! 📌 https://lnkd.in/eJaTE53f See you there! IDH || Agriterra || Oikocredit || SCOPEinsight #professionalization #cooperatives #agriculture #systemicchange

🌍 Segment to Succeed – A closer look at the development potential of farmer organizations! Here's another webinar coming up! This time we zoom in on the art 🎨 of segmentation. Join us on January 22, 2025, at 14:00 CET for an insightful webinar on how segmentation can transform the way farmer organizations and cooperatives are supported. Learn how data-driven segmentation of farmer organizations' management capacity works in practice and how it can help organizations working with farmer organizations to improve efficiency and foster collaboration – achieving more impact with less resources!   🚀 Key takeaways: - AgriGRADE’s segmentation model (see link to article in the comment below 👇) - Insights from pilots in #Tanzania and #Kenya. - Key dimensions to assess the professionalism of farmer organizations 🎙️ patrick kagathi, CPA , Program Manager IDH and Cees van Rij, Director AgriGRADE Register now to secure your spot! 👉 Register : https://lnkd.in/easg_rc2 And help us by completing a short survey as part of the registration. #farmerorganizations #sustainableagriculture #professionalization #webinar #collaboration #innovationinagriculture SCOPEinsight Agriterra Oikocredit

🌟 Exciting Opportunity Alert! 🌟 AgriGRADE is looking for a dedicated Coordinator for our Centre of Excellence (CoE)! If you have a passion for professionalizing farmer organizations, enabling sustainable growth, and connecting agribusinesses to finance and markets, this could be the role for you. Key Highlights: Shape the future of rural economies through systematic collaboration. Drive impactful projects that enhance professionalism and value in agricultural value chains. Join a mission-driven team working towards scalable, data-driven solutions in emerging markets. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/et-CgAX6 Join us in building resilient, market-ready farmer organizations that contribute to global food security and economic development. Apply now or share with your network! Let's make an impact together. 🌍🚜 Agriterra SCOPEinsight IDH Oikocredit #ruraldevelopment #professionalization #sustainability #joinourteam

Hi everyone, here is another @AgriGRADE webinar coming up! Let's have an AgriGRADE date on 11 December! 📢 Unlocking finance for farmer organizations –unchartered territory explored Join the AgriGRADE Webinar: Unlocking Finance for Farmer Organizations Gain valuable insights into financing strategies and success stories. Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of agricultural finance!  🎙️ Special Guest: Geoffrey M., Agricultural Loans Specialist – Africa, Oikocredit  🗓️ Date: 11 December 2024  ⏰ Time: 2 PM CET 🌱 Check out this article (see link in comment 👇) on Access to Finance to discover how professionalizing farmer organizations unlocks their potential, making them attractive to investors while driving rural economic development. A professional farmer organization can access markets, secure financing, and foster sustainable growth—all essential for tackling global challenges like food security and climate resilience. SCOPEinsight Agriterra IDH 360 Connect Co Ltd Africa Turnaround Limited [ATL] Sundy Merchants Co. Ltd

📢 Unlocking finance for farmer organizations –unchartered territory explored ☘️  Check out AgriGRADE's article (https://lnkd.in/e2h2C3Q3) on Access to Finance to discover how professionalizing farmer organizations unlocks their potential, making them attractive to investors while driving rural economic development. A professional farmer organization can access markets, secure financing, and foster sustainable growth—all essential for tackling global challenges like food security and climate resilience. Join the AgriGRADE Webinar on Unlocking Finance for Farmer Organizations 🎙️ Special Guest: Geoffrey M., Agricultural Loans Specialist – Africa, Oikocredit 📅 Date: 11 December 2024 🕒 Time: 2 PM CET Gain valuable insights into financing strategies and success stories. Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of agricultural finance! 🔗 Register Now: https://lnkd.in/e8dY9FY2 Cees van Rij Lucas Simons #professionalization #agribusinesses #accesstofinance

Today, we had the privilege of hosting a delegation from #China, including cooperative leaders and representatives from cooperative development agencies Unitystar Agricultural Business Academy and Sichuan Mengdingshan Academy of Cooperative Development. The delegation represented a diverse range of sectors, from fruits (citrus, apples), medicinal plants and mushroom farming to animal feed production. With over 2.2 million cooperatives, China's cooperative sector is still in its early stages but shows immense potential, particularly in mitigating the effects of structural transformation and as driver for modernization of the agricultural sector. The AgriGRADE approach, with its data-driven, scalable and standardized methodology for cooperative graduation, sparked a lively discussion and many questions. China's government has implemented a comprehensive strategy to ensure food security for its 1.4 billion citizens, focusing on self-sufficiency in staple grains and modernization of the agricultural sector. This approach includes protecting arable land, advancing agricultural technologies, and reducing dependence on imports. Agricultural cooperatives are pivotal in this strategy, as they facilitate resource sharing, knowledge exchange, and collective bargaining among farmers. The scalable approach of AgriGRADE undoubtedly offers opportunities in this context, and it has been agreed to explore further possibilities for collaboration. A special thanks to Aijun Yang, Richard van der Maden for coordinating this nice exchange!   #AgriGRADE #CooperativeDevelopment #China #Agriculture #graduation Agriterra IDH Oikocredit SCOPEinsight

Join us for an exclusive @AgriGRADE webinar on October 29th (tomorrow!), 15:30 - 16:30 CET Why Professionalism Matters: Unlocking the Potential of Farmer Organizations. Follow this link to register: https://lnkd.in/esbd9MnK Hope to see you tomorrow!