Shared interest foundation – COLEAD: a new partnership for the benefit of coffee-cocoa cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Rwanda
- 21/02/2024
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
No CommentsThe Shared Interest Foundation (SIF), a UK-based charity, is partnering with COLEAD in an initiative aimed at enhancing the operational effectiveness and sustainability of cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Rwanda, which are currently receiving finance from their business arm, Shared Interest Society The project will revolve around (i) a baseline diagnostic phase to identify existing gaps and weaknesses in the current governance and financial frameworks of each cooperative, (ii) a training programme on cooperative governance and management, planning, and… +Access to finance for agripreneurs: getting back to basics
- 29/01/2024
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
Launch of our first webinar for information and training. Access to finance is widely recognised as a key solution for rapid and sustainable development of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. The main limiting factors are the lack of suitable finance and the capacity of entrepreneurs to prepare a suitable application. COLEAD is stepping up its involvement in this area through programmes such as Fit For Market +. Our approach focuses on empowering agripreneurs to develop their projects by demystifying access to… +COLEAD Consultative Committee 2023: The Association stands at a crossroads
- 20/12/2023
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
On December 1st, a year after the 2022 Consultative Committee (AC), COLEAD, represented by its management and Board of Directors, convened with key partners to assess progress and strategise on leveraging COLEAD’s toolbox and network for contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The primary objective is to align COLEAD’s future actions based on shared technical and policy priorities, confirming the organisation’s course for the coming years, starting in 2024. The General Delegation of the association presented a comprehensive review of… +“Access to finance for agripreneurs”: a COLEAD department enabling partner-beneficiaries to reach the maturity required to fund their projects
- 07/12/2023
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
Access to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) is a significant obstacle to the development of inclusive and sustainable agricultural and food sectors, especially in vulnerable and high-potential countries such as Sub-Saharan African countries. For over 20 years, COLEAD has been actively involved in this area, despite it not being originally part of the priority intervention themes of the programmes, which were more focused on strengthening the technical capacities of operators in agricultural practices and market access. These… +UNIDO Senegal: Training on financial and accounting management
- 26/05/2022
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
COLEACP organised a training session on the theme of “Accounting, determination of operating costs and decision support tools”. The activity took place within the framework of the INOE 2000 project, in partnership with UNIDO. Access to new markets requires a precise profitability analysis to evaluate the costs of compliance with new market requirements. In previous training courses, it has been noted that the profitability of a company is often not estimated sufficiently accurately. An incorrect estimation of the cost of… +Zimbabwe: New collaboration with HDC
- 18/03/2021
- Posted by: Gaetan Dermien
- Category: News, Zimbabwe
COLEACP collaboration with Zimbabwe Horticultural Development Council A very productive dialogue between COLEACP and Zimbabwe’s Horticultural Development Council (CEO Mrs Linda Nielsen and Chairman Mr Stanley Heri) has led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and action plan. The agreement includes technical and capacity-building support through the Fit For Market programme to promote smallholder development through horticulture and outgrower schemes. HDC Chairman Mr Stanley Heri of the Zimbabwe Export Produce Growers Association, a former Chairman of COLEACP (2004–10),… +News digest: Agri-food markets and production
- 18/03/2021
- Posted by: Gaetan Dermien
- Category: Africa, Bananas, Benin, Burkina Faso, Caribbean, China, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, News, Pacific, Spain, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
Global Organic farming is still gaining ground Global organic agriculture is progressing in small steps again in 2019, with a 1.6% increase in the global surface area – an additional 1.1 million hectares (ha) – to 72.3 million ha (including land under conversion), with Oceania in the lead, in fact Australia (nearly 50%), followed by Europe (23%) and Latin America (11%) (Commodafrica, 3 March). But compared to the world’s agricultural surface area, the result is still modest (1.5%). The countries… +Team Europe partners with Equity Bank to support Kenyan business and agriculture amid Covid-19
- 10/03/2021
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: Kenya, News
The European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), working together as Team Europe, are providing €120 million (KES 15.8 billion) of new support for Equity Bank to enhance financing for Kenyan companies most impacted by the Covid-19 crisis (European Commission press release, 3 March). The financing package will support access to finance under appropriate conditions for Kenyan SMEs, including in the agriculture sector, through €100 million loans from the EIB to Equity Bank and €20 million of EU… +COLEACP signs MoU with East African Community
- 11/12/2020
- Posted by: Emmanuel Bourcelet
- Category: Africa, Burundi, Kenya, News, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
COLEACP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the East African Community (EAC) to support a competitive and sustainable horticultural sector in the East African Region. The agreement identifies synergies in four key areas of SPS systems: strengthening governance; improving operational processes; managing skills and competencies; and strengthening communication dynamics between relevant stakeholders, particularly to ensure communication between National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) and professional organisations, especially focusing on active involvement of the private sector in the process of strengthening… +New: PAFO-COLEACP Innovation Series
- 28/10/2020
- Posted by: Emmanuel Bourcelet
- Category: Africa, News
Innovations and successes of African farmer-led businesses and SMEs PAFO-COLEACP Innovation Series – First online meeting: took place the 19th November 2020. To improve production, processing and trade, it is critical to assess, showcase and upscale existing innovations created or adopted by farmers’ organisations and SMEs. This first session of the Innovation Series has presented successful African cooperatives, SMEs and enterprises on value-added and branded products that can increase opportunities in more lucrative markets. They discussed successful chain models and… +