Investment advisory services in building a pipeline for an agribusiness project developer

Investment advisory services in building a pipeline for an agribusiness
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Situation

After a recent award by a large bilateral donor toward agribusiness project financing, our client, an Africa-focused impact investor and agriculture project developer, engaged ORI to help fast-track its operations in Uganda via advice on set-up and generating a preliminary pipeline.

Based on this, the client required a clear understanding of the investment and legal/regulatory environment, identification of relevant stakeholders, and an agribusiness deal pipeline.

Industries
Market Analysis & Opportunity Scoping
Smallholder Agriculture Development
Commercial Advisory Services
Agribusiness & Food Systems
Finance & Investment
Capital Raising & Impact Investing
Engagement

ORI called on its domain expertise and extensive networks in the public sector, the private sector (including agriculture), and compliance/regulatory agencies.

ORI actively supported the client by:

  • Leveraging our extensive on-the-ground experience to map significant stakeholders in the agricultural sector, agriculture finance, and impact investors operating in the market.
  • Prioritizing stakeholders and sector actors for in-depth engagement based on selection tools.
  • Identifying a pipeline of agribusiness SMEs supplying inputs to small- and medium-scale farmers in northern Uganda or buying products from farmers in northern Uganda.
  • Reviewing compliance and regulatory requirements to establish an investment fund in Uganda based on financial sector policies and laws.
  • Introducing the client to senior levels of industry and major stakeholder groups across the agricultural capital ecosystem and receiving views and insights for establishing the organization in Uganda.
  • Undertaking high-level diligence to determine the investment readiness of potentially attractive agribusinesses seeking capital—and evaluating the degree to which they would be a good fit for the fund’s objectives based on the investment thesis.
  • Generating a pipeline of attractive investee agribusiness SME firms.
Outcomes
  • The client established a respected operation in Uganda, one of their first full offices in East Africa, in part based on our advice.
  • Our deal pipeline generated the first set of potential investments for more detailed diligence per the client’s procedures and frameworks.
  • The first wave of agribusinesses to be successfully financed by the client came out of our deal pipeline
  • The client continues to expand and advance their agribusiness investment mandate in Uganda and Eastern Africa. These investments produce positive social and development impacts on millions of smallholder farmers, employees, and the communities in which portfolio companies operate.