Strengthening AFAP's Trade Credit Guarantee through data systems
The African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) is an independent non-profit organisation that collaborates with public and private sector partners to develop fertiliser markets in Africa, supported by the Gates Foundation. Its flagship initiative, the Trade Credit Guarantee (TCG), is an innovative financial mechanism that de-risks transactions between fertiliser suppliers and Hub Agro-dealers, who distribute inputs to smallholder farmers in Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. By improving access to fertiliser for smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa, the TCG plays a critical role in supporting agricultural productivity and food security in some of the continent's most vulnerable communities.
The project: Supporting design and implementation of a TCG
AFAP's first TCG launched in 2020 in Tanzania and Nigeria, with support from the African Development Bank's African Fertiliser Financing Mechanism (AFFM). The evidence from this program showed that every $1 of guarantee mobilised $17 of fertilizer for farmers, thanks to the guarantee being reused each time a delivery is made and repaid, and being matched dollar-for-dollar by the fertilizer suppliers themselves. Seeing the potential in this, the Gates Foundation engaged Social Finance to help scale up this innovative financing mechanism. This work included sizing the fertiliser market in 5 new geographies, mapping the credit terms already available to hub agro-dealers, building out reporting frameworks for the TCG, and supporting guarantor engagement and due diligence. This culminated in a landmark partnership with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC): this was their first time providing guarantees to a non-profit entity alongside the African Development Bank and marked a significant milestone in mobilising institutional capital for agricultural finance in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Having supported the successful mobilisation of the guarantee, Social Finance was engaged to support AFAP to develop and implement the data systems needed to manage the facility, leveraging our data and digital expertise. Reliable tracking of exposure, monitoring of repayments, and effective management of payment delays are essential to the successful operation of the guarantee facility, and SFI worked in partnership with AFAP to design the system architecture, support vendor selection, and train country teams to use the platform for day-to-day portfolio management, performance monitoring, and donor reporting.
Key elements of the approach
SFI's support for AFAP’s data system spanned three interconnected workstreams:
Management Information System (MIS) training. SFI jointly developed training materials and delivered interactive sessions to Credit Risk and Monitoring and Evaluation Officers across all six countries. Training materials included Standard Operating Procedures to serve as an ongoing manual for country teams.
Power BI training. SFI supported the review of the platform as it was being developed, and preparation of Power BI training materials, designed to support teams in interpreting the dashboards and leveraging insights to enhance portfolio-level oversight.
In-country visits. The SFI team visited all six country teams in person to discuss TCG performance in each market, identify country-specific considerations, and ensure that data monitoring systems were designed to meet local needs while remaining a standardised tool across offices. These visits proved instrumental in identifying practical adaptations, for example, discussions with the Ghana team about the Ghanaian Cedi's appreciation against the US dollar led to the introduction of a Daily Exchange Rate Tab in the MIS to help mitigate foreign exchange risks.
The value of being there from the beginning
Having helped shape the TCG from the outset gave SFI more than just technical familiarity; it meant the team understood the mechanism's logic, its risks, and what success was meant to look like before a single transaction was monitored. SFI also brought established relationships with the AFAP team, guarantors, and donors, a level of trust that proved essential in embedding so closely in implementation, rather than arriving as an outside provider learning the programme from scratch.
Lessons Learned: Key Insights for Future Technical Assistance Programmes
Country visits are essential for contextualising data systems. In-person engagement with country teams revealed practical realities that remote work could not identify.
Standardisation and local adaptability must be balanced. Designing a single MIS for six countries with varying market conditions required active engagement with each country team. Ongoing in-person and virtual contact ensured that systems remained standardised across the portfolio while meeting local needs.
Data analysis skills are critical for programme effectiveness. Integrating data monitoring systems into AFAP's operations required significant investment in training and capacity building. Strong data analysis skills within country teams proved essential for effective credit risk management.
Looking ahead
A model for future agricultural finance programmes. Supporting the TCG from design through implementation, and building the data systems to manage it, offers a replicable model for other agricultural finance mechanisms across Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly where robust credit risk monitoring is central to programme integrity.
Interested in innovative financial models? Connect with us:
📩 Chloe Eddleston, Associate Director, Social Finance International – chloe.eddleston@socialfinance.org.uk
Partners
AFAP | Gates Foundation
Location
Sub-Saharan Africa (Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia)