Expanding Ghana’s Agricultural Sector Through Blended Finance

Sub-Saharan Africa

CrossBoundary Advisory

Agriculture & Agri-Business

Market: Ghana

Expanding affordable finance and skills for Agri-SMEs through BRIDGE-in Agriculture, a five-year program targeting $87M in lending and 400,000 youth reached by 2028

Capabilities:

Blended Finance

Capital raising

Deal structuring

Fund design & strategy

Fundraising support

Strategy Advisory

Transaction Advisory

Team

Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Communications Specialist

Stanley Anum

Finance and Operations Specialist

Rachel Mills

Gender Specialist

About the Client

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work.

Engagement

CrossBoundary Advisory co-designed with the Mastercard Foundation and now implements the Building Resilience and Investing in the Development and Growth of Entrepreneurs in Agriculture (BRIDGE-in Agriculture) Platform, a five-year initiative designed to impact 400,000 young people in Ghana. The program directly contributes to the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, which aims to enable 30 million young people across Africa to access dignified and fulfilling work.

Approach

CrossBoundary Advisory and the Mastercard Foundation co-created a blended finance platform to expand affordable capital for businesses operating in agriculture and related sectors. In Ghana, high interest rates, often around 35%, and perceptions of agriculture as high-risk restrict SMEs’ access to financing. The program addresses these challenges by providing partner banks with a first-loss facility, alongside interest-free capital for on-lending, enabling them to extend financing to SMEs in agriculture and adjacent sectors at single-digit interest rates.

To tackle this challenge, CrossBoundary Advisory leads a consortium of 10 partners, including six local banks, two training providers, and a technology platform. CrossBoundary Advisory works closely with partners to build a strong pipeline of SMEs and rigorously monitor impact, ensuring that financing and training translate into job creation and expanded opportunities for youth and women. It also supports partner banks to ensure systematic changes are implemented for SME lending in Agriculture to continue beyond the life of the platform.

Learn more about BRIDGE-in Agriculture

Key Intervention Areas

Affordable capital for SMEs

Enable banks to provide low-interest loans to SMEs in agriculture and adjacent sectors

Bank capacity building

Strengthen partner banks’ expertise in agricultural lending through targeted training and advisory support

SME development support

Provide AgriSMEs with access to financing, business development support, and technical assistance.

Training and upskilling youth and women

Train and upskill young people and women to create or sustain dignified employment.

Ecosystem engagement

Foster collaboration across the agriculture ecosystem through events, networking, and strategic partnerships.

Key Results (by June 2028)

$87 million lent to SMEs in agriculture and adjacent sectors at 7% interest rate
Impacting over 400,000 young people in Ghana by creating and improving jobs, while providing training and skills development, 70% of participants are women