EAGC and Equity Bank Kenya Limited held a partnership discussion meeting at the EAGC Regional office on 17th June to engage on various strategic partnerships. The meeting identified a structured financing opportunity for grain trade in the region which is a potential game changer in grain trade. The Bank will finance grain off take in the country through EAGC’s grain trading platform – G Soko. In addition, the bank will finance grain suppliers through EAGC’s Grain Trade Business Hubs for timely acquisition of quality farm inputs among them mechanization and aggregation of grain.

For bank will further strengthen the supply chain’s financial management by building their capacity on financial literacy and entrepreneurship and linking them to financial products and services.

The institutions further engaged on onboarding the Bank into the EAGC-Brazafric Grain Bulk Production project as a as a potential financier. The project is advocating for bulk production of food, mainly cereals, legumes and oil crops through land leasing by the private sector following an approval by the Kenyan Cabinet to repossess idle parastatal and lease it to private investors for commercial agriculture to improve food security in the country.

EAGC recently got into a partnership with Brazafric for bulk grain production where private sector will lease land and be supported to produce food on large scale. Crops to be considered are cereals, legumes and oil crops. This is an opportunity for Equity bank to come and support the BGP project or the different transactions that are coming out of this arrangement. Pilot countries are Kenya and Uganda.

The two entities are also pursuing a potential partnership that will see the Bank onboard EAGC as a strategic partner for the Agriculture Pillar in the Bank.