Mama Fresh Injera Attends and Speaks at an ACDI/VOCA Workshop

Last week, one of RENEW’s portfolio companies, Mama Fresh Injera PLC, had the honor of attending and speaking at a workshop hosted by ACDI/VOCA’s Agricultural Growth Program-Agribusiness and Market Development (AGP-AMDe). According to ACDI/VOCA’s website, the AGP-AMDe program in Ethiopia “uses a value chain approach to strengthen the agriculture sector, enhance access to finance, and stimulate innovation and private sector investment.”

The coffee, chickpea, honey, wheat, maize and sesame value chains are all considered to be of the utmost importance to the U.S. and Ethiopian governments, and consequently to the AGP-AMDe program as well. In fact, this program is part of USAID’s Feed the Future initiative, which focuses on reducing global poverty and hunger by accelerating agricultural growth in 19 developing countries.

Over the course of the workshop, AGP-AMDe reviewed the progress of their projects in Ethiopia that spanned across the six value chains (coffee, chickpea, honey, wheat, maize and sesame), and showed a new video that outlined the status of the projects in the Amhara region. AGP-AMDe gave certificates of appreciation to partners of ACDI/VOCA, and highlighted the progress of the companies they provided grants to in the various value chains. This includes the sesame unions and associations for honey, pulses and coffee, the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, and other government and non-government institutions. AGP-AMDe also mentioned RENEW and how private equity investment is helping local business to grow and create a more robust agriculture sector.