You reap what you sow,” a man who was buying seeds at container village was heard muttering. This is quite an old saying. However, for easier interpretation, you cannot sow oranges and harvest mangoes. If you sow poor quality seeds, you certainly will have a poor harvest. “I am going to plant this one seed…
Agriculture-focused private equity firm Pearl Capital Partners, manager of the Yield Uganda Investment Fund, sees growth potential in the cassava value chain in Uganda. The firm recently invested $2.5 million in cassava producer Pura Organic Agro Tech Ltd. The funding will be used to set up a vertically integrated cassava processing plant to produce high-quality…
Yield Uganda Investment Fund (Yield Fund) and FCA Investments (FCAI) are pleased to announce a Euro1.3m investment in AMFRI Farms Limited (AMFRI Farms). AMFRI Farms is a pioneering organic farming,processing and exporting company working closely with diverse communities all over Uganda, in trainingand production of Certified Organic fruits and vegetables, processed for the export market.…
Amfri Farms Ltd has secured a 1.32 million Euros, ( about Shs5.49b) investment from FCA Investments and Yield Uganda Investment Fund managed by Pearl Capital Partners. Of the investment, partially structured as convertible preference shares, 60 per is convertible into equity. The funding aims at providing long-term ”patient capital” to Amfri Farms to enable its…
With limited access to affordable and long-term credit continuing to hinder greenfield investments in agro-processing in Uganda, collaboration among the agro-processing ecosystem players is key to unlocking new funding mechanisms. This is even more important as the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) reports an up to 60% reduction in production by her members occasioned by the…
When private equity (PE) managers and investors, like Pearl Capital Partners and many others, are considering investing in companies, we tend to focus on the hard cold numbers. Numbers around the market, strategy, cash flow and the first 100 days postinvestment. So do owners and CEOs of the companies that we seek to invest in.…
Yield Uganda Investment Fund (Yield Fund), which is managed by Pearl Capital Partners, is thrilled to announce an investment of USD 2.5 million in Pura Organic Agro Tech Ltd (Pura) structured in both straight equity and patient debt investment. This marks the Fund’s eighth investment into the Ugandan agriculture sector but more uniquely, the first…
Welcome to 2021 and the first edition of the Pearl Capital Partners (PCP) Bi-Annual Newsletter in this new year. Another year has come and an eventful one has passed. We wish you a successful new year, new start and miles to go. Read More
In the 25 years since Clayton Christensen coined the term “disruptive innovation,” much has been written about the benefits of shaking up established business practices. Even before the current pandemic, there was a growing recognition that our food systems, too, needed to be reimagined. Today’s food systems must feed 7.8 billion people without compromising future…
The sector has however seen underperformance over recent years in comparison to other sectors within the economy due to the low level of value addition through processing facilities and also a lack of commercial private enterprises, thereby resulting in weak employment creation. Read More
In 2004, we set up African Agricultural Capital (AAC) with the ambition of stimulating investment inagricultural businesses in East Africa. AAC was one of the first agricultural impact investmentvehicles in the region. It inspired others and we learned many lessons along the way. I would like tocommend most highly the shareholders, Gatsby Charitable Foundation and…
Gatsby Africa, Pearl Capital Partners and Onward Resources International have released the AfricanAgricultural Capital (AAC) closure of fund report. The launch of the report was held virtually on the 28thOctober 2020 and presented to different stakeholders with interests in impact investing. Read More
Pearl Capital Partners is a fund manager that invests in agribusiness enterprises in East Africa. The firm has offices in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya. Its most recent fund, the Yield Uganda Investment Fund, has made seven investments in Uganda worth over €5.8 million. These include: Sesaco – a processor of soy products; Chemiphar – an…
In 2004, private equity firm Pearl Capital Partners set up African Agricultural Capital (AAC) with the ambition of stimulating investment in agricultural businesses in East Africa. The fund was formally closed in 2019. AAC was one of the first agricultural impact investment vehicles in the region. Investors collectively committed $9 million in AAC, which the fund fully…
This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on how markets can bring us closer to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SOCO 2020 offers a detailed analysis of the major global trends in agri-food markets and trade to identify how to reap economic, environmental and social gains and spur overall development.…
Why does CDC care about SMEs? Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income in emerging economies, according to the World Bank, yet they suffer from a lack of access to finance. These businesses are critically important if we are to support economies across the continent to not only recover from the COVID pandemic but…
The World Bank, in its Global Economic Prospect 2021, has said Uganda’s agricultural sector will be among the most resilient sector in 2021. Uganda, the World Bank said, will be among the five countries in sub Saharan Africa that will experience the least contraction in agriculture. This, according to the World Bank, implies that agriculture will support…
The partnership between Microsoft and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), enabled through the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative, will enhance AGRA’s digital transformation agenda as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021. Microsoft has, together with the AGRA, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to co-create…
This year’s Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) focuses on Feeding Africa’s Cities by assessing the opportunities, challenges and policies required to enable African farmers and agribusinesses to serve the rapidly growing urban food markets. The report seeks to find ways for smallholder farmers to drive food security, rural prosperity, and inclusive economic growth. The 2020…
Private equity is an alternative investment class and consists of capital that is not listed on a public exchange. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies, or that engage in buyouts of public companies, resulting in the delisting of public equity. Institutional and retail investors provide the capital for private equity, and the capital can…
The Covid-19 pandemic has destroyed livelihoods and scattered millions of jobs around the world. The International Labor Organization estimates that nearly 1.6 billion people’s livelihoods are now threatened with the greatest impact being felt by those in the informal sector. However, the pandemic has also brought to the fore numerous opportunities in Agribusiness that the…
