SME Impact Fund is proud to have been awarded Lender of the Year for high impact agricultural SME lending in East Africa. The award ceremony was held during the Aceli Africa convening last week in Nairobi.
Aceli Africa is a financing facility that offers financial incentives to financial institutions and international impact investors to encourage them to lend to agri-businesses in East Africa. The awards, given by Aceli Africa, aims to recognize high impact lenders.
Allert Mentink, CEO of SME Impact Fund: ”It is a huge honor to receive this recognition for our work. Eight years ago we started our impact fund with the mission to make finance accessible to underserved agri-SMEs in Tanzania. Not only so they can realize their own potential but also create sustainable impact in the entire food commodity value chains in Tanzania. To be honest, the way to this award was not an easy path. As a pioneer you face many challenges. But with passion and persistence we were able to overcome the obstacles that came along the way and create sustainable impact.
I would like to thank all our investors and partners who have supported our work along this exciting journey over these years. Also, I say thank you to my team for their incredible effort and dedication.
We expect this award to spur our expansion to Kenya and Uganda, with our new fund SME Impact Fund II, which will be launched by mid-2023. We will continue our work with even more passion and determination!”
