AMFRI Farms

The company

A working export business, not a start-up.

AMFRI Farms grows and exports organic food. It farms six of its own sites and buys from 560 certified smallholder farms. Those smallholders supply about 80 percent of production. Most of the growers are young, and about 40 percent are women.

The company already sold into the European Union, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. It held the certificates that those markets demand. The business worked.

The problem

Margin leaked on every shipment.

AMFRI had no processing capacity near the Entebbe cargo hub. Produce travelled further than it should before it was packed. That cost time, quality and money on every order.

It also needed the financial records and the sales structure that a lender wants to see before it funds a capital project of that size.

What we did

We paid for the plant, and we did the work around it.

We invested 1.3 million dollars together with Yield Fund Uganda. The money went into the new processing facility.

At the same time our Venture Building team worked inside the company on financing, accounting, marketing and sales. That work made the investment safe to make, and it made the new capacity worth building.

The result

More capacity, better products, more jobs.

AMFRI now processes closer to the airport. It has moved into higher margin product lines, and it plans to more than double capacity. The company employs 300 people and buys from 560 farms.