Portfolio Companies
Current SME Partners
Renewable Energy
SunCulture
Company Summary: SunCulture empowers smallholder farmers with solar irrigation. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, they design, manufacture, sell, and distribute solar-powered irrigation solutions, which makes it cheaper and easier for farmers to grow high-value fresh fruits and vegetables. Their irrigation kit is a highly efficient drip-irrigation system that delivers the right amount of water to each crop and can increase yields by more than 300 percent.
AMF's Partnership: AMF provides SunCulture with TA through the WE4F program. This TA enables the company to strengthen leadership capacity of its middle management. Specifically, through three training modules, middle managers are trained in gender-inclusive learning and development so they can not only strengthen their own leadership skills, but elevate their teams too. In total, 34 middle managers have completed 2 modules while 22 managers have finished all three modules. Important outcomes already emerged from this TA, including improved performance from the trained management team, which can strengthen the company’s profitability and attractiveness to prospective investors.
Amped Innovations
Company Summary: Amped Innovations (‘Amped’) designs solar appliances to improve energy efficiency at affordable consumer prices. While previously focused on solar lighting and television kits, the company now applies the same design approach to solar refrigerators. Amped has operations in both Kenya and Uganda and has sold over 110,000 solar lighting and television sets across 20 countries.
AMF's Partnership: AMF provides Amped with TA through the WE4F pogram. This TA allows Amped to research, design, and test a prototype of a solar refrigerator, which uses a water-battery. This solar refrigerator will eventually enable farmers to access affordable refrigeration for food storage, which will in turn reduce waste and increase their income. Amped is currently halfway through the WE4F program and has received the fridge prototype that will eventually undergo testing before production. Ultimately, by developing this prototype, Amped will be able to show traction with its target market and provide prospective investors with reasonable financial projections for this innovative product.
REDAVIA
Company Summary: REDAVIA is an industry leader in solar power and provides solar farms to businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. Their innovative 'pay-as-you-go' system consists of a pre-configured solar unit, which contains solar modules and electrical components. Once the unit is on-site, REDAVIA trains local specialists who manage the installation, operations, and maintenance of each solar farm making it easy to use and upkeep.
AMF's Partnership: AMF has provided REDAVIA with TA through both the WE4F and DeveloPPP programs. With WE4F, REDAVIA is developing an Electricity Storage (ES) and Energy Management System (EMS) for farmers’ solar farms, thus making them independent from national electricity grids and increasing access of its technology to smallholder farmers. With DeveloPPP, REDAVIA is mainstreaming gender into its operations. This includes implementing two gender and business-smart strategies within the company.
Sustainable Food & Agriculture
Olivado
Company Summary: Based in Kenya, Olivado EPZ (’Olivado’) sources fresh avocados from smallholder farmers and processes them into cold-pressed extra virgin avocado oil. Their organic oil is Fairtrade certified (thus ensuring ethical working conditions) and food-grade, while the rest of their oil (i.e. 'conventional oil') is sold to manufacturers for cosmetic use. Olivado provides advance payments to help farmers meet their immediate needs and emergencies (such as medical bills and school fees). In total, 38% of the Olivado's suppliers are women and 100% are rural. Olivado also operates a circular economy factory. There, the avocado pulp and liquid waste is fed into a bio-digester to produce methane, which powers a generator to electrify the facility. Biogas from this process is also converted into compressed natural gas (CNG), which serves as an alternative fuel for vehicles, while the effluent is used to produce fertilizer that is sold to their supplier farmers at a discount.
AMF's Partnership: Olivado receives TA under the WE4F program to: 1) identify potential clients for avocado/mango powders and to forecast a market demand for their products, 2) select prospective clients for sampling, and 3) obtain feedback on product quality and pricing while providing summary reports and recommendations on next steps to implement market expansion plans. This will help Olivado to expand its clientele and suppliers, provide more stable income to farmers, and strengthen their pitch to investors. For DeveloPPP, Olivado is introducing a gender and business-smart strategy, which focuses on building capacity of its technical team to support women in its farmer network.
Twiga Foods
Company Summary: Twiga Foods ('Twiga') is a business-to-business marketplace platform that sources produce directly from farmers and delivers it to urban retailers at below-market prices. Twiga provides a complete supply chain for a variety of products including bananas, avocados and cabbages. Founded in 2014, Twiga has experienced fast-paced growth, and it is currently the largest distributor of fresh produce in Kenya.
AMF's Partnership: Twiga receives TA from AMF under the DeveloPPP program and is implementing two gender and business-smart strategies as part of this. Both strategies are designed to drive uptake of Twiga’s 'Sokoloan' product (which provides much needed working capital for African retailers through a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ program) among women vendors. This is expected to improve marketing funnel metrics among women farmers including reach, lead generation, and associated product benefits. Twiga expects this TA will translate into more women vendors taking Sokoloans. Consumer research has already been executed, with insights used to inform next steps.
GOT IT
Company Summary: GOT IT is a produce processing and distribution company, which was founded in Rwanda in 2014. The company supplies safe produce to hotels, high-end lodges, restaurants, embassies, and catering kitchens. GOT IT partners with local small-scale farmers to advise and assist them in practicing sustainable agriculture methods.
AMF's Partnership: AMF provides GOT IT with TA through the WE4F program. For this, they are installing submersible solar powered pumps and storage tanks to drip irrigate the land. This will create consistent water supply, year round, which enables farmers to produce high-quality crops in consistent quantities. Additional benefits from this program include providing employment to more people, upskilling farmer labor, increasing overall production and revenue from higher sales, and presenting more attractive financial figures to investors.
Asili Farms
Company Summary: Asili Farms Limited (‘Asili’) is one of several businesses owned and operated by Agilis Partners, which has a mission to empower Ugandans to feed Africa through sustainable farming, harvesting, and processing maize, soybean, and (to a lesser extent) sunflower. Through its work, Asili pioneers climate-smart agriculture practices in Uganda and built a farming model that yields food, raw materials, and improves climate resilience.
AMF's Partnership: Asili receives TA from AMF through the WE4F and DeveloPPP programs. For WE4F, they aim to substantiate their carbon revenue model through developing: 1) a desktop study and field analysis, 2) a smallholder carbon aggregation model, and 3) a feasibility study focused on the eligibility of a carbon farming program. This supports improvements in Asili's climate-smart farming practices and allows them to demonstrate the superiority of climate-smart farming practices. The study was completed this year with a pre-feasibility report received. Through DeveloPPP, Asili is mainstreaming gender equity into its business operations by implementing three gender and business-smart strategies. These will boost employee satisfaction and perceptions about equal opportunity, increase women representation, and increase the number of women farmers benefiting from its extension services
Circular Economy
Mr. Green Africa
Company Summary: Mr. Green Africa is on a mission to get plastic waste off the streets in Kenya and to turn it into high-quality post-consumer recycled (PCR) pellets for reuse. They work with a network of 2,500+ waste pickers who source the plastics and operate a processing facility, which turns the plastic into PCR pellets. Since founding in 2014, Mr. Green Africa has grown and they have established partnerships with various corporations such as Unilever.
AMF's Partnership: Mr. Green Africa receives TA from AMF under the DeveloPPP program to implement two gender and business-smart strategies. These are both designed to boost their supply of plastic while simultaneously creating opportunities for women. Currently, only 23% of Mr. Green Africa's total waste pickers are women and 27% of total staff. Mr. Green Africa expects this TA support will enable them to boost perceptions that waste picking is a suitable role for women while increasing its number of women suppliers and staff through targeted messaging, training and recruitment. Mr. Green Africa also expects this will drive registrations among women for its consumer platform.
Sustainable Manufacturing
Moko
Company Summary: Moko Home + Living (‘Moko’) was founded in Kenya in 2015 and creates tailored products (95% of which are made from recycled materials) that offer quality at an attractive price point. The company sells mattresses (17% of revenue), sofa sets (3% of revenue), cushions (50% of revenue), and fiber materials (26% of revenue). Moko also extends credit to entrepreneurs by offering a 30 to 45-day payment window for furnishing materials and supplies. This allows artisans to use proceeds from sales to pay (rather than their own limited capital). Since founding, Moko has grown to 200+ employees and 25,000+ products sold along 3 product lines. Additionally, by providing affordable and high-quality furnishing materials to artisans on credit, Moko supports 160+ small enterprise artisan businesses in over 40 cities across Kenya, which indirectly sustains 5,000 jobs in the sector.
AMF's Partnership: Moko receives TA via the DeveloPPP program to mainstream gender into its operations. For this, they are developing a strategy to address the risk of sexual harassment in the workplace. An employee survey is planned to be carried out to gather insights on this, with findings informing next steps.
“The main insight from this initiative with AMF is learning to analyze and contextualize results about perceptions and gender equity. By identifying the different needs that women and men have in the workplace, we’ll be able to create an environment that’s more comfortable for the entire team.”
— Staff member of Tienda Pago
SMEs that AMF has worked with in the past
Agsol
Agsol is a start-up company that manufactures leading-edge, solar-powered, agro-processing machines for off-grid farming communities. Through TA provided by AMF, Agsol developed a custom motor for their MicroMill unit. It included a fully custom motor tailored for off-grid solar agro-processing.
CorpoCampo
CorpoCampo specializes in the production and distribution of acai berries and palm hearts, with all products derived from sustainable farming practices. With AMF, CorpoCampo held a feasibility study that identified ways to convert the company's main processing plant to use renewable energy sources.
Insotec
Insotec is a microfinance institution working to reach underserved populations and smallholder farmers in Ecuador. With AMF, Insotec carried out a communications campaign and conducted gender-based data. Both of these helped Insotec to better reach and serve women customers and employees.
Lohas Beans
Lohas Beans works with smallholder farmers to export certified organic coffee from Colombia. In partnership with AMF, Lohas Beans conducted a solar power feasibility study identifying ways to reduce annual CO2 emissions. This led to 100% of their milling facility’s energy being self-generated.
Sanergy
Sanergy harnesses a circular economy approach to empower cities in building carbon-negative systems that offer safe sanitation. With AMF, Sanergy held a feasibility study and business model review, which led the launch of a full-scale factory in Kinanie with the capacity to process 72,000 tons of waste per year.
Sistema.bio
Sistema.bio is a social enterprise that provides access to innovative biodigester technology, training and financing to address the challenges of poverty, food security, and climate change. AMF’s gender-smart TA enabled Sistema.bio to increase female participation within the company.
Tienda Pago
Tienda Pago is a lending platform designed to provide small merchants in emerging markets with mobile cashless payments. In collaboration with AMF, Tienda Pago gathered gender-based data to identify ways to better serve female customers while improving career opportunities for female staff.
ANKA
ANKA specializes in developing renewable energy solutions to create strong, sustainable and resilient local economies in Africa. With AMF, ANKA conducted a feasibility study on an ‘AgriGrid Model,’ which integrates mini-grid electrification with agribusiness opportunities in rural communities.
Fundacion Espoir
Fundacion Espoir offers microfinance services, combined with health and education services. In partnership with AMF, Fundacion Espoir conducted gender-based research and identified ways to better serve female customers and promote gender-inclusive recruitment and retention.
InspiraFarms
InspiraFarms designs, develops and supplies modular and energy-efficient on-farm and close-to-farm cold rooms and packhouses for the horticultural sector. Together with AMF, InspiraFarms conducted market research and piloted a new storage-as-a-service product offering to better serve its customers.
Phoenix Foods
Phoenix Foods purchases fruits and vegetables from smallholder and medium farmers for export. With AMF, Phoenix Foods conducted gender-based research that identified ways to better promote gender-inclusive recruitment and retention into their organization.
Sempli
Sempli is an online lending platform that services small businesses in Colombia. In collaboration with AMF, Sempli conducted gender-based market research and communications. This ultimately led the company to identify new ways to better serve female customers and employees.
SolarNow
SolarNow is a social enterprise operating in Uganda, which manufactures and sells high-quality solar home systems. With TA from AMF, SolarNow conducted an initial gender-based business assessment to identify ways to strengthen operations and sales at the company.
Villa Andina
Based in Peru, Villa Andina is a leading certified organic superfood manufacturer and exporter. With AMF, Villa Andina applied a gender lens into their operations, which ultimately enabled the company to promote gender-inclusive recruitment and retention practices.
Apollo Agriculture
Apollo Agriculture is a technology company based in Nairobi that helps small-scale farmers maximize their profits. In partnership with AMF, Apollo created a strategy to integrate solar pumps into their portfolio of products while also gathering gender-based data to improve the business.
Good Nature Agro
Good Nature Agro works with smallholder farmers to produce legumes (soybeans, groundnuts, beans and cowpeas) for seed and export. Through AMF’s TA, they conducted a solar energy irrigation pilot program to analyze the potential of creating an additional growing season (during the dry season).
Kentaste
Kentaste is East Africa's leading producer of coconut products. With AMF, Kentaste conducted a feasibility study, product development research, and gathered gender-based data, which informed new commercial opportunities and ways to better engage women suppliers.
Rent to Own
Rent to Own was founded in 2010 in Zambia to facilitate access to productive assets for smallholder farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs. Through TA provided by AMF, Rent to Own identified ways to adapt to changes sparked by COVID-19 by updating its brand and fundraising efforts.
Simusolar
Simusolar is an agriculture equipment supplier focused on providing solar-powered products. TA provided to Simusolar by AMF allowed the company to explore ways to enhance its mobile information systems. This led to functionality improvements to its IT system so that it could serve customers more efficiently.
SuniSolar
Based in Nicaragua, SuniSolar designs and installs renewable energy systems. With support and funding provided by AMF, SuniSolar was able to adapt to the changing situation and challenges caused by COVID-19 so that the company could continue serving its customers.