- Pepea’s funding will present Kenya-based Gaea Meals with the working capital vital to fulfill rising demand from each new and current prospects.
- This, in flip, will allow the corporate to supply from a bigger variety of smallholder farmers, additional strengthening the native agricultural financial system.
- Launched in 2023, Pepea Fund was created to offer funding for early-stage corporations.
Gaea Meals, a Nairobi-based potato processing firm, has turn into the first-ever funding of Pepea, an impression fund from Oxfam Novib managed by Goodwell Investments, marking a historic milestone for the fund
This transfer not solely highlights the potential of Gaea Meals within the B2B market but in addition underscores Pepea’s focus in fostering sustainable and inclusive development in East Africa. Gaea Meals is a pioneering female-led enterprise centered on Kenya’s potato worth chain. By offering enterprise debt to Gaea Meals, Pepea goals to empower smallholder farmers, improve native worth chains, and promote gender fairness inside the trade.
Pepea Fund imaginative and prescient and focus
Launched in 2023, Pepea Fund was created to handle a urgent want within the East African entrepreneurial ecosystem: the shortage of funding for early-stage corporations with excessive development potential however restricted entry to conventional monetary sources.
With a deal with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that contribute to a greener, fairer, and extra inclusive society, the EUR 20 million fund leverages the complementary strengths of Oxfam Novib and Goodwell Investments. By supporting these companies, Pepea goals to drive optimistic social impression whereas additionally reaching monetary returns.
Over the previous yr, Pepea’s funding says it has reviewed a whole bunch of proposals, lastly figuring out Gaea Meals as a main candidate for its first funding. This determination displays Pepea’s broader mission to again companies that align with its “honest, inexperienced, and inclusive” funding mandate.
Gaea Meals: A trailblazer in potato processing
Based in 2009 by Irene Mwangi, Gaea Meals has carved out a distinct segment within the potato processing trade, serving as a vital hyperlink between smallholder farmers and main B2B purchasers in Kenya.
Initially buying and selling in entire potatoes, Gaea Meals has since advanced to turn into a number one provider of peeled and minimize potatoes to fast-casual eating places corresponding to Steers and Nando’s in Nairobi.
Beneath Mwangi, who brings over 20 years of expertise within the sector, Gaea Meals has constructed a strong provide chain of smallholder farmers within the East African nation. The corporate’s dedication to sustainability is clear in its waste administration practices, which embody changing potato peelings into fertilizer and animal feed. This method not solely minimizes environmental impression but in addition provides worth to the agricultural ecosystem.
Learn additionally: How Famunera is revolutionizing agribusiness from Uganda to the UAE
Empowering feminine entrepreneurs and farmers
Probably the most compelling points of Pepea’s funding in Gaea Meals is its alignment with the fund’s gender-forward funding technique. Gaea Meals just isn’t solely female-founded but in addition female-led, with 70 % of its employees being girls. This deal with gender fairness is central to Pepea’s mission, as evidenced by the remarks of Tamara Campero, Investments Supervisor at Oxfam Novib: “Our Affect SME Growth Program has proven that feminine entrepreneurs usually tend to create a gender-balanced workforce and supply first rate work situations for his or her employees.”
By supporting Gaea Meals, Pepea is championing the position of ladies in enterprise and contributing to a extra equitable and inclusive ecosystem. This funding is predicted to have a ripple impact, inspiring different feminine entrepreneurs and reinforcing the significance of gender fairness within the East African enterprise panorama.
Enhancing native worth chains
Gaea Meals’ enterprise mannequin is deeply intertwined with the livelihoods of smallholder farmers throughout Kenya. By sourcing uncooked potatoes instantly from these farmers, the corporate ensures a steady and honest marketplace for their produce, thereby enhancing their incomes and total high quality of life.
This mutually helpful relationship is a cornerstone of Gaea Meals’ operations, and it aligns completely with Pepea’s purpose of enhancing native worth chains.
Pepea’s funding will present Gaea Meals with the working capital vital to fulfill rising demand from each new and current prospects. This, in flip, will allow the corporate to supply from a bigger variety of smallholder farmers, additional strengthening the native agricultural financial system. As Gaea Meals scales its operations, the optimistic impression on these farmers is predicted to develop, making a extra resilient and sustainable worth chain.
A Imaginative and prescient for Sustainable Development
Gaea Meals’ dedication to sustainability extends past its provide chain and waste administration practices. The corporate can also be centered on making a optimistic social impression by doubling its workforce from 20 to 40 workers inside the subsequent yr. This growth won’t solely create extra job alternatives however may also contribute to the financial growth of the communities by which Gaea Meals operates.
Managing Director Irene Mwangi expressed her pleasure in regards to the funding, stating, “This funding provides Gaea Meals the flexibility to maintain evolving and supply from extra smallholder farmers. The work we do permits us to contribute to creating the financial system, create jobs, and enhance the farmers’ high quality of life. We’re wanting ahead to working carefully with Goodwell and Oxfam Novib to profit from their data and experience in SME growth.”
The Position of Goodwell Investments
Goodwell Investments, the agency managing Pepea Fund, has a monitor file of delivering each social impression and monetary returns via its investments in high-growth, high-impact companies. With groups in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Netherlands, Goodwell is well-positioned to determine and help promising enterprises throughout Africa.
Since its inception in 2009, Goodwell has centered on inclusive development in sectors that present primary items and providers and earnings era alternatives to underserved communities. Its partnership with Alitheia Capital, which has managed investments in West Africa, additional strengthens its means to make significant contributions to the event of the African enterprise panorama.
The funding in Gaea Meals is a testomony to Goodwell’s experience in figuring out companies which have the potential to drive optimistic change whereas reaching monetary success. By partnering with Oxfam Novib via the Pepea Fund, Goodwell is ready to prolong its impression to early-stage corporations in East Africa, like Gaea Meals, which can be making a tangible distinction of their communities.
