The Missing Middle

Our vision is to be the leading specialist business advisor for agribusiness SMEs in Africa.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the economic backbone of virtually every economy in the world. They also promote innovation, help deliver goods and services, and can be a powerful force for integrating women and youth into the economic mainstream. Yet despite all these benefits, small enterprises remain significantly underserved by financial and advisory institutions, contributing to the ‘Missing Middle’.

Through our experience in providing advisory services in Africa, we have found that many of these ‘missing middle’ SMEs, as well as youth and women-led SMEs are not able to access funding or specialist advisory services due to lack of funding. This creates a support gap at a critical juncture in their business. We are leveraging support from grant funders and supporters of these missing middles so that the growth hub can provide them with the advice they need to grow.

The Missing Middle

The growth hub supports SMEs operating in the missing middle.

MICRO

$5K turnover

1-5 employees

STARTUP

$5K - $149k turnover

5-30 employees

EARLY STAGE

$150K - $499k turnover

30-50 employees

GROWTH

$500K - $5m turnover

50-149 employees

MATURE

$5m turnover

150 employees

  • Micro-finance
  • Grants
  • Family & Friends

The Missing Middle

AGRI FRONTIER
GROWTH HUB
  • VC & Private Equity
  • Commercial Bank Debt
  • DFI's

Problem

The Missing Middle

SMEs are overlooked by mainstream investors. Considered too big for micro-loans and grants and too small for traditional Private Equity firms.

Expansion

There are high costs associated with expanding into new markets and developing
and launching new products.

Assurance in Development

Challenge to find quality technical assistance.

Diversity

Women and youth lack the support and confidence to grow their businesses.

Solution

The Missing Middle

We provide fundraising support to SMEs who are considered risky or business sizes considered too early stage by conventional investors.

Expansion

We assist agribusinesses to expand to new markets.

Assurance in Development

We help link agribusinesses to technical assistance and business development.

Diversity

We support women and youth-led businesses to scale and access capital.