Our 2024Impact Report
From farms to markets, MSMEs drive African economies. Together with our partners, we're creating the conditions for their success.
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Welcome
Our vision at Small Foundation is a thriving Africa free from extreme poverty. Achieving this takes imagination, innovation, and the courage to take risks—anchored in deep collaboration.
We believe the expertise and solutions exist locally, and that lasting change comes from supporting those closest to the challenges. We work with mission-aligned partners that expand access to key enablers such as finance and markets, generate insights and share knowledge, and foster collaboration across the ecosystem. Together, we help create the conditions for rural prosperity.
While each partner addresses different, often overlapping aspects of change across the system, this year’s impact report shines a light on a handful of stories from the rapidly evolving space of agricultural finance. To illustrate their impact and potential, we spoke with partners, the ventures they back, and the customers whose lives and livelihoods are directly affected.
These stories offer just a glimpse of what’s possible. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together and excited for what’s ahead. Thank you for being part of this journey.
Sincerely,
Conor Brosnan
CEO & Chair
Our impact in 2024
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We disbursed funding of €5.1M to support 36 partners through grants and social investments
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This funding went to 13 investments, 16 network partners, and 6 research projects
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By the end of 2024, our fund and accelerator partners had investments in 4,700+ African SMEs
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Our partners worked across 44 countries in Africa
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We approved an additional €5.6M in funding
Partnering fora thriving Africa
Through our partners, we have the opportunity to work with innovative ventures tackling some of the most persistent barriers facing rural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These enterprises are enabling farmers, traders, and small businesses to access the tools, finance, and markets they need to grow. Below, we highlight a selection of these ventures—alongside the customers they serve—showing how local innovation and targeted support can unlock opportunity across rural economies.
Lucy – a market trader in Nairobi
For over 20 years, Lucy Nyambura has sold produce at City Park Market in Nairobi. She’s navigated many difficulties, but as with most traders, her biggest barrier to growth has been access to capital. Banks in sub-Saharan Africa rarely lend to informal businesses, and the credit options that exist can be predatory.
This has changed since Lucy joined CoAmana. With access to affordable credit and better access to produce, she can buy more stock and increase her turnover. With reliable repayments her credit line has expanded, and her business has grown. Lucy’s story reflects a broader one: when small business owners have access to the capital they need, the impact can be transformative.
CoAmana
CoAmana is the platform enabling Lucy’s success. Across Africa, traders and smallholder farmers work without reliable information, secure payments, or formal financial services—making trade less efficient, increasing costs, and limiting growth and stability. Through provision of inclusive finance and the digitisation of marketplaces, CoAmana is addressing these gaps and strengthening existing systems in ways that are practical and locally appropriate.
In Nigeria and Kenya, CoAmana’s Amana Market app helps small-scale traders like Lucy unlock credit and source goods more easily and at better prices. The app also uses their transaction history to build a financial track record. This is particularly powerful for women, who make up the majority of informal traders. By combining digital innovation with the trusted practices of existing markets, CoAmana is contributing to better coordinated and more resilient rural economies.
Emerald Africa
To support informal retailers like Lucy, businesses like CoAmana need capital. While venture funding in the African tech space is growing, debt for early-stage businesses is scarce. Yet debt is often the more appropriate tool for those offering credit themselves. Once a business has shown its product is viable in market, debt can fuel growth while avoiding the early equity dilution that can threaten long-term sustainability.
Emerald Africa was incubated by Small Foundation to address this gap for early-stage digital innovators that are expanding access to finance for rural small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With its backing, ventures like CoAmana can channel more capital to rural markets, scale, and unlock further funding from banks and other investors.
Ventures backed by our partners
We work with a range of mission-aligned partners, many of which have their own investment portfolios. The investees featured here address critical gaps for rural MSMEs— from enabling instant payments to strengthening supply chains. Through partnership, we help extend the reach of these solutions—unlocking growth and resilience in rural economies.
VunaPay
VunaPay enables instant payments to smallholder farmers when they deliver produce to cooperatives—avoiding delays that can stretch up to a year. By digitising cooperatives, VunaPay makes transactions transparent, builds credit histories, and opens access to other essential services. The steady cash flow is directed back into farms, households, and rural economies.
Cherehani
Cherehani provides loans to women micro-entrepreneurs in rural Kenya. Using mobile technology and community lending groups, they help business owners grow operations, increase incomes, and build financial skills. With finance from Untapped, Cherehani has expanded into water tanks—boosting productivity, opening new income streams, and improving everyday life.
Sevi
Sevi helps small businesses keep their shelves stocked by offering quick, convenient access to credit. By making it easier for buyers and sellers to trade on terms that work for them, Sevi frees up time, resources, and capital. With support from Emerald Africa, Sevi is extending these benefits to more rural enterprises, strengthening supply chains and creating new opportunities for growth.
Vetsark
Vetsark helps farmers access the credit they need—financing feeds, medications, chicks, and other essentials for a successful harvest. Vetsark also connects them to trusted suppliers and fair and reliable markets, supporting better yields and stronger incomes. Backed by Emerald Africa, Vetsark is enabling more farmers to invest in their businesses and build a more resilient future for African agriculture.
Stories from the field
Behind every investment are people putting solutions to work—farmers, traders, and entrepreneurs building better livelihoods. Their experiences show the real-world impact of access to finance, markets, and technology, from growing businesses and improving harvests to supporting families and strengthening communities.
Monica's Story
Monica Wambui works at a coffee cooperative in rural Kenya. Before VunaPay, payments to farmers could take up to two weeks to calculate and disburse. Now, deliveries are logged digitally and payments arrive within two days—sometimes instantly. Monica says this change gives farmers more control over their businesses, and lives.
Peter's Story
Peter Ojwang' Awuor, a farmer in rural Kisumu, is a Cherehani customer. After hearing about the service from a friend, he applied and acquired the water tank on credit. As a result, his farm has expanded, energy costs have reduced, and his income has increased. Peter paid off his loan early and plans to apply for a second tank.
Investing in local solutions
These partners are reshaping agricultural lending—harnessing data and technology and scaling local solutions. By unlocking early-stage debt, attracting local investment capital, and demonstrating the investability of African markets, they are enabling ventures to deliver real benefits for smallholder farmers and rural enterprises.
The future of digital lending
Alongside their investees, our partners share perspectives on Africa’s digital lending space—how it is evolving and what is needed next.
Our partners in 2024
Through our investment, networks, and research practices, we partner with intermediaries and ecosystem-building initiatives that support African MSMEs to thrive. Here is a snapshot of what our partners achieved in 2024, through the lens of our collaboration.
60 Decibels
In 2024:
- Completed research to measure the wellbeing of coffee farmers in East Africa and published findings
- Revised the Farmer Thriving Index tool based on research insights
A&A Collective
In 2024:
- 538 members across the African tech and investment ecosystem (42% female)
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Representing 26 countries globally
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Membership includes 138 investors, 59 operators/investor support organisations, and 155 firms
AFRACA
In 2024:
- 110 institutional members across 30 African countries
- Convened AFRACA Central Bank Forum on agricultural policies and financial inclusion
- Finalised impact study on Central Bank policies on rural and agricultural finance
- Held AFRACA Regional Policy Meeting in DRC
African Food Fellowship
In 2024:
- Coordinated 4 cohorts of fellows, with 218 graduating from the Food Systems Leadership Programme
- Fellows launched 20+ food systems actions
- Introduced yearly in-person network gatherings, connecting fellows across cohorts and impact areas
Agri-SME Learning Collective
In 2024:
- 24 institutional members
- Three workstreams: BDS/TA, catalytic capital, livelihood & environment
- Began development of a catalytic capital framework to guide practice
- Commenced work on BDS/TA segmentation guidance (published in 2025)
Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance
In 2024:
- 36 members; 25 in Africa across 9 countries
- Launched the international standard ISO 18716 on professional farmer organisations
- 1.36 million farmers benefitted from AMEA peer reviewed BDS approaches
- Published 5 case studies on TA effectiveness
The bigger picture:it takes an ecosystem
This report offers only a slice of our story. Beyond the ventures featured here, our investment, network and research partners are generating insights, building connections, and driving systemic change across the rural MSME ecosystem. We invite you to explore their work and the broader efforts shaping a thriving Africa.