The FoodTrade ESA Challenge Fund (CF) aims at stimulating innovative business models that deliver commercial benefits, solutions to market failures in regional food staple markets as well as jobs, income and market access for the poor and smallholder farmers. FoodTrade challenges private sector to make such investments by lowering their risk through match grants and concessional loans as well as parallel interventions targeting relevant policy and regulatory constraints.
Potential investments under the CF will have to pass specific eligibility and selection criteria that contribute to the overall objective of FoodTrade ESA. The detailed criteria are accessible under the APPLY FOR CF grant section, but broadly, the criteria relate to the regional impact of the proposed investment, the development impact and the geographic focus of the proposed investment.
The FoodTrade ESA Challenge Fund (CF) aims at stimulating innovative business models that deliver commercial benefits, solutions to market failures in regional food staple markets as well as jobs, income and market access for the poor and smallholder farmers. FoodTrade challenges private sector to make such investments by lowering their risk through match grants and concessional loans as well as parallel interventions targeting relevant policy and regulatory constraints.
Eligibility
Potential investments under the CF will have to pass specific eligibility and selection criteria that contribute to the overall objective of FoodTrade ESA. The detailed criteria are accessible under the APPLY FOR CF grant section, but broadly, the criteria relate to the regional impact of the proposed investment, the development impact and the geographic focus of the proposed investment.
The applicant must be a for profit private company
- Each investment must have a regional focus implying that the investment must show some impact in at least 2 countries in ESA and possibly stimulate cross border trade i.e. an investment must not focus solely on ONE country in terms of impact
- Investments can focus on storage and collateral systems, input markets, coordination and information systems, services for cross border trade in staples.
- The funds applied for should be between a minimum GBP150,000 up to GBP1million
- The FoodTrade Challenge Fund will fund up to 49% of an investment. Once approved, applicants are then responsible for the remainder of the funding needed to implement the project in the form of a matching grant.
Detailed guideline for application is found here. Download this PDF document for further information about this opportunity. Click here to apply online.