Transaction Summary
Sahel Capital, through its Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA), has extended a $560,000 working capital loan to Mariseth Farms Ltd. (Mariseth) to support its operations in Ghana. Founded in 2012, Mariseth aggregates key crops such as soybeans, maize, rice, and palm oil, and provides essential input credit to farmers before the planting season. The funding is part of SEFAA’s $24 million impact fund, seeded by KfW in 2021, to stimulate economic activities for smallholder farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Renaissance Law Chambers advised SEFAA, while Pangea Global Ventures counseled Mariseth. This financing aligns with SEFAA’s mission to empower social enterprises, enhance agricultural value chains, and improve livelihoods for farmers.
Terms
- Fund Managers: Sahel Capital
- Fund: Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA)
- Target: Mariseth Farms Ltd
- Financing Type: Debt
- Transaction Type: Debt Financing
- Type of Debt Financing: Private Credit
Transaction Rationale
This investment reflects SEFAA’s focus on growth-stage agribusinesses with proven, scalable business models that empower smallholders, enhance food security, and promote women’s economic inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mariseth Farms, having matured into a well-established enterprise, fits this profile perfectly. The $560,000 working capital facility from Sahel Capital’s SEFAA fund will provide critical liquidity to scale operations, primarily by facilitating increased procurement volumes from its network of over 9,200 smallholder farmers—79% of whom are women. Achieving greater scale will enhance Mariseth’s pricing leverage with larger buyers and processors, enabling more favorable terms that can be passed through to the smallholder farmers. This capital enables Mariseth to expand its input credit program, thereby increasing farmers’ access to financing, improving their liquidity, and boosting engagement within the network by overcoming a key barrier faced by low-income, rural smallholder farmers.
- Market Opportunity: Ghana’s agricultural sector, valued at approximately $3.49 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $3.98 billion by 2030, remains a vital employer, engaging nearly 45% of the workforce and a key focus of government modernization efforts. Mariseth Farms operates within high-growth value chains—soybean, maize, rice, and oil palm—critical to Ghana’s food security and industrial needs. The country’s export of $61 million in soybeans in 2023 and significant rice imports (950,000 metric tons forecasted for 2024/25) underscore import substitution opportunities that Mariseth is well-positioned to capture. Leveraging a network of 9,200 smallholder farmers and supported by timely working capital, Mariseth secures consistent volumes, enhancing supply reliability and market power. Its planned palm fruit processing facility targets the $153 million palm oil import gap, offering substantial value addition potential. Supportive government programs like “Planting for Food and Jobs” and development funding from AfDB and GAFSP targeting Ghanaian smallholder farmers reinforce a conducive environment for Mariseth’s growth. The company’s input credit model boosts farmer loyalty and productivity, aligning with broader impact trends on women’s empowerment and rural livelihoods. The SEFAA facility arrives at a critical juncture, empowering Mariseth to scale operations, deepen farmer engagement, and accelerate growth within Ghana’s evolving agribusiness landscape.
- Risk/Return Analysis: The debt investment in Mariseth Farms is structured to provide Sahel Capital with steady financial returns through interest and principal repayments, reflecting a risk-return profile suitable for lending to an agribusiness SME operating in Ghana.. The investment supports enhanced livelihoods, women’s economic empowerment, job creation, and improved food security through increased production and efficient aggregation of staple crops. Mariseth’s diversification into catfish, snail, and livestock farming broadens its market reach and revenue streams. However, some risks include operational challenges in efficient storage infrastructure, managing logistics, quality control, and post-harvest losses, as well as climate-related threats and price volatility that may affect productivity and cash flow. These risks are mitigated by Sahel Capital’s technical assistance, which strengthens operational, financial, and ESG capabilities and promotes climate-resilient practices. Combined with active portfolio monitoring and Mariseth’s diversified crop base and strong farmer relationships, this approach supports both risk mitigation and impact delivery.
About the Fund Manager
Sahel Capital is a private equity firm founded in 2010 and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, specialising in emerging growth, buyout, and growth capital investments in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors. The firm targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in processing, logistics, storage, and agricultural inputs, with a preference for companies led by experienced management teams. Sahel Capital typically invests between $500,000 and $5 million, utilising a range of financing structures, including quasi-equity instruments. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, particularly West Africa, with a strong emphasis on Nigeria, Sahel Capital seeks to exit investments within 10 years while offering management consulting and financial advisory services to its portfolio companies. The firm currently manages the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) and is the investment advisor for the Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa fund. Sahel Capital is currently raising capital for a new fund, Sahel Capital Agribusiness Fund II, a successor fund (to FAFIN) to further support agribusiness growth across West Africa.
