About Us

AgDevCo is a not-for-profit distribution agricultural development company operating in sub-Saharan Africa. Acting as principal, it invests "social venture capital" to create commercially viable agribusiness investment opportunities, bringing them to the point where they can attract private investment from domestic and overseas investors.

AgDevCo's approach is unique in several respects:

• Acting as principal (i.e. owner) enables AgDevCo to act as the “organising agent” on the ground to structure viable, investment-ready opportunities.
• By shouldering the earliest stage costs and risks, AgDevCo reduces the costs and risks of entry by private investors and thereby stimulates greater private investment in agribusiness.
• Working with InfraCo, AgDevCo seeks to mobilise "patient capital" to part-finance the cost of greenfield irrigation infrastructure. Irrigation services are then made available at affordable cost to commercial and smallholder farmers.
• When opportunities are "investment ready", AgDevCo mobilises debt and equity from private sources and development finance institutions, arranging credit enhancement for the debt where necessary. AgDevCo plans to mobilise >$10 of private investment for every $1 of social venture capital that it invests.
• When necessary, AgDevCo seeks to mobilise concessional funding from donors and private foundations to ensure that irrigation is affordable for smallholder farmers and that they share substantively in the benefits of commercial agriculture.
• AgDevCo seeks to sell down its interest in each opportunity to the private sector. All proceeds realised by AgDevCo are reinvested in new early stage agricultural ventures in Africa.

AgDevCo is managed by professionals recruited from the private sector with extensive agricultural and project development experience in Africa and elsewhere. Management report to a Board of Directors made up of individuals with senior private sector credentials in business and finance and in-depth knowledge of development issues in Africa. AgDevCo is currently funded by private individuals, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation. It is seeking additional "social venture capital" funding from government donors, private foundations and social impact investors. It is also in discussions with commercial investors about investment capital for certain portfolio investments in its pipeline.