Farm Africa secures $2 million investment to expand Sidai Africa

12 January 2016

Farm Africa’s social enterprise Sidai is set to expand following an investment of $2 million from The Adolf H Lundin Charitable Foundation.

Sidai runs a network of franchises offering high-quality crop and livestock services in rural Kenya. It aims to revolutionize the provision of crop and livestock services to pastoralists and farmers in Kenya by creating a more sustainable service delivery model.

The financing, a mixture of debt and equity, will enable Sidai to open a new hub in Thika and expand its range of quality own-branded products, as well as investigate expansion into other countries in eastern Africa.

Sidai’s Chair Christie Peacock commented:

“This milestone investment by the Lundin Foundation in Sidai will enable us to grow the business and in turn help more under-served farmers and livestock keepers grow their incomes. Securing returnable finance as opposed to grant funding is an important step on the journey to demonstrating the long-term commercial viability of the social enterprise.”

Farm Africa’s interim Chief Executive Natasha Clayton added:

“Sidai is a fantastic example of a scalable solution helping to achieve Farm Africa’s vision of a prosperous rural Africa. By putting a clear social mission at the heart of the organisation we are able to deliver quality crop and livestock products to communities who need them the most in an economically sustainable way. The new funding will enable Sidai to expand and help even more farmers access these valuable services.”

Founded in 2011, Sidai aims to establish a network of at least 150-200 company-run and franchised retail outlets in Kenya, operating under the Sidai brand. Each outlet is equipped to provide quality animal health and crop products and professional technical advice to farmers and pastoralists.

Farm Africa extends thanks to both Hogan Lovells and PwC for their legal and financial advice on the new investment.