British International Investment

ETC Group

AustraliaEast AfricaEast AsiaGlobalSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaSouthern AfricaUSAWestern AsiaWestern EuropeFood & Agriculture

ETG is an African agribusiness that employs over 7,000 people and reaches hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers.

Founded in 1967, the company owns and manages a vertically-integrated agriculture supply chain with operations in procurement, processing, warehousing, transport, distribution and merchandising.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

Our investment in ETG is expected to support economic opportunity for 579,000 farmers across 21 countries through direct purchasing of agri commodities at the farm gate. Farmers report improved incomes, access to agri inputs and extension services compared to those that do not sell to ETG.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact

Economic opportunity for farmers (SDG 8 & 2.3)

How?

How?

Direct: ETG purchases agri commodities from farmers at the farm gate indirectly linking them to regional and international markets. ETG sources a large number of agricultural commodities across the African continent; 80% of these are purchased at the farm gate with cash through a network of 450 all-year and seasonal procurement centres. Through these centres, ETG also offers inputs and extension services to the farmers. This enables two things: (1) farmers are able to sell surplus to ETG directly and are generally paid in cash; (2) through quality inputs and extension services yield will increase and (post-harvest) losses decrease.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Farmers, as suppliers to, buyers of inputs from and recipients of extension services by ETG.

Pan Africa and Asia (21 countries). A country can have 5 to 150 procurement centres.

ETG purchases from small, medium and large farmers. In the three countries sampled, farmers selling directly to ETG typically have larger landholdings and a lower poverty likelihood. Over 85% of these farmers depend on agriculture as their primary source of income and are entrepreneurial using agricultural inputs and some mechanisation to improve yield. Majority of the farmers have started working with ETG recently and 83% sell nearly half of their produce to ETG with the balance sold to local markets and other middlemen. Farmers selling to the company are mostly male (70%) and young (60%<50 years old).

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

In 2020, ETG procured from c.579k farmers in our geographies. For our $100 million investment, we estimate attributable reach at c.45k farmers annually.

  • Depth: Farmers selling directly to ETG report improved livelihoods. This results from 1) fair market prices (c. 75% mention better price as primary reason to sell to company); 2) improved quality and quantity of crop, as a result of inputs and extension services from the company (c. >60% of farmers also purchased fertilizer and seeds from ETG with 43% of the farmers engaged with agronomists for advice on best practice).

  • Duration: The impact will occur over 1 year (or tenor of facility if renewed).

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Capital is not available in sufficient quantity. BII and other DFIs are plugging a gap in funding left by commercial banks. The combination of increased bank regulations and COVID-19 saw several commercial banks in Africa scaling back operations.
  • Value additionality: Our environmental and social action plan will support ETG’s journey towards alignment with international environmental and social standards focusing on key areas such as pesticide management, supply chain risk and safeguarding processes, and environmental and social risk assessments.

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

3.24

Risk

Unexpected Impact Risk
  • Our markets often have agricultural supply chain risks. ETG has largely good procurement practices related to transparent pricing and timely payment. There are supply chain risks related to farmers supplying to ETG. This risk is being addressed through the execution of the ESAP.
Evidence Risk
  • Because of the nature of pooled funding, ETG doesn't measure the impact of financing facilities attributable per lender. This evidence risk will need to be tolerated. The key KPI will be number of farmers reached. Our due diligence concluded that the assumptions used by ETG to estimate farmers reached are sound. In addition, we will require additional reporting metrics, such as female farmers as a percentage.

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D4190
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Australia, East Africa, East Asia, Global, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, USA, Western Asia, Western Europe
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Australia, China, Global, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Food & Agriculture

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Debt
    Start date :
    March 2021
    Amount :
    $100m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    Mauritius

Related investments made by BII into this company:

Investment name Commitment Region Sector Start date Status
Investment 01 $32.5m Australia, East Africa, East Asia, Global, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, USA, Western Asia, Western Europe Food & Agriculture November 2012 Exited

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