Mastercard Foundation launches Agriculture Business Initiative

The Mastercard Foundation, in partnership with CrossBoundary Advisory, has officially launched a BRIDGE-in-Agriculture initiative to empower young women and underserved groups through employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in agriculture and adjacent sectors.

BRIDGE, which stands for Building Resilience and Investing in the Development and Growth of Entrepreneurs in Agriculture, is tailored to tackle the structural challenges in agricultural finance, particularly the limited access to affordable credit for women and youth-led businesses.

The initiative aims at impacting 400,000 youth over the next five years, 70 per cent of them women and five per cent persons with disabilities.

This target includes reaching 200,000 farmers, training 60,000 youth, creating 20,000 new jobs, and sustaining or improving 120,000 jobs.

To deliver these results, the programme supports five core areas: Provision of affordable capital to financial institutions, capacity building for those institutions, direct support to SMEs, youth and women training, and broader ecosystem development.

Partner banks, including Access Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, First National Bank, Stanbic Bank, and Zenith Bank, receive interest-free repayable grants to lend to agriculture-linked SMEs at interest rates not exceeding seven per cent.

Commendation

Speaking at the launch held in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, John Setor Dumelo, commended the Mastercard Foundation and its partners for their collaborative leadership.

He said that BRIDGE-in Agriculture aligns with the Ministry's Feed Ghana Programme, which aims to boost year-round food production, enhance productivity, and strengthen food systems' resilience.

Mr Dumelo highlighted agriculture’s importance to Ghana’s economy, indicating that the sector employs nearly 40 per cent of the total workforce and supports 75 per cent of the rural population.

He said that the sector is expected to grow to employ 2.5 million people and reach a valuation of $3.8 billion by 2028.

However, key barriers remain, such as limited access to finance, climate risks, infrastructure challenges, and low adoption of modern practices.

The deputy minister emphasised that BRIDGE was a timely intervention to help overcome these constraints.

Youth

Addressing the youth, Mr Dumelo urged them to seize this opportunity to build sustainable businesses, become job creators, and drive agricultural transformation.

He encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to start small and scale gradually, citing a personal anecdote on the profitability of snail farming.

Boosting financial inclusion

Assistant Director and Head of Climate and Sustainability at the Bank of Ghana, Allswell Abankwa, also underscored the bank’s commitment to inclusive finance.

She said that the bank had issued corporate governance and risk management directives to strengthen the financial sector and support critical areas such as agriculture. 

Abankwa highlighted the bank’s efforts to promote financial inclusion for women through initiatives such as women-dedicated desks at bank branches, virtual support desks, and gender-sensitive financial products.

Achievement

Programme Lead for BRIDGE-in Agriculture, Fanta Conde, reflected on the initiative’s early achievements.

Developed in 2023, the programme was designed in response to a $2 billion financing gap in Ghana’s agriculture sector, where only 10 per cent of demand was being met, often at interest rates as high as 35 per cent. 

“Through stakeholder engagement, barriers such as limited credit history, lack of collateral, and sector volatility were identified,” she said.

She said that rather than step back, the Foundation responded with an inclusive programme that offers meaningful employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

By mid-2024, BRIDGE had disbursed GH¢11.6 million to 72 SMEs, trained 22,000 youth, and provided $87,000 in grants to young entrepreneurs.

Conde indicated that the initiative had reached 86,000 youth, 59 per cent of them women with 58 per cent of loan recipients being first-time borrowers and none of the loans had gone into default.