Client: AGRA (Multi-donor including DFID, Dutch (DGIS), AusAID and IFAD)
Country: Africa
Year: 2008-2014
The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$100m multi-donor fund hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The aim is to encourage private sector companies to compete for investment support for their new and innovative business ideas. The ultimate aim of the AECF is to reduce poverty and create rural employment
The AECF runs competitions open only to for-profit-companies for business ideas that will take place in Africa but with a clear focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. The AECF provides grants and interest free loans from a minimum of US$250,000 to a maximum of US$1.5m per project (the average grant size is expected to be US$750,000).
Between June 2008 and April 2011, the AECF ran 11 competitions, four general competitions open to all agribusiness and rural finance business ideas from across Africa and 7 special competitions also known as Special Windows for particular sectors, regions or countries. Competitions have been held for projects from:
- Fragile States (2009);
- Zimbabwe (2 competitions, 2010/11);
- Commercialising Agricultural Research and Technologies (2 competitions, 2010/11);
- Renewable Energy and Climate Change (2010/11), and
- Tanzania Agribusiness (2010/11).
As at end April 2011, over 2,400 applications were received and 48 projects have been awarded funding (commitment US$38m) and a further US$121m has been committed to these 48 projects.
Services provided
Triple Line supports the Fund Manager (KPMG) in the evaluation and assessment of applications to the fund, and provides monitoring assistance and performance assessment to ongoing projects. This has included:
- Design of project screening systems;
- Performance assessment of ongoing projects;
- Portfolio analysis and performance assessment of the entire Fund;
- Running of workshops with businesses to assist in the tracking of business and development impacts;
- Development of results chains for each business for the tracking of impacts at the level of the business, the wider economy and the market system using DCED methodology, and
- Design of longitudinal impact case study methodology using Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Achievements
- The AECF is on track to reduce the poverty of over 1 million farming families and poor people in rural areas.
- Systems have been designed for running cost-sharing grant schemes for the private sector.
- Measurement approaches developed for tracking the performance of projects and the contribution that businesses can play in reducing poverty and changing market systems.