Bridging the Gap

Our Projects

Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (FinGAP)

In Ghana, Connexus worked on the USAID Financing Ghanaian Agriculture Project (USAID FinGAP), leading the training and coaching activities to build the institutional capacity of financial institutions (FIs) to engage in agricultural financial services more effectively. Connexus adapted its well-respected agricultural value chain finance training to the Ghanaian context and conducted more advanced training modules on credit risk assessment, portfolio management, new product development, cash flow-based lending, insurance, gender and financial inclusion, and management information systems.

Connexus also offered coaching services to guide FIs through the process of assessing and pursuing real, tangible investment opportunities. All trainings and coaching were demand-driven and Connexus built capacity of local trainers in more than 40 FIs to ensure sustainability after the project’s end. In five years, USAID FinGAP facilitated access to over $167 million of new finance and $91 million in capital investment to 2,995 small, medium, including large enterprises (SMiLEs), in the rice, maize, and soy value chains. The majority of investments were to small enterprises (92%), versus medium and large enterprises (8% combined). Over the life of the project, partner FIs expanded agricultural finance from 6% to 13.6% of their total portfolios.

Client(s):
Palladium International
Funder(s):
USAID
2013
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2018