Agriculture is a core component of Sierra Leone’s economy, employing about two-thirds of the labour force. To explore investment and learning opportunities in the sector, Invest Salone recently conducted an investment field trip to Port Loko – Sierra Leone’s agribusiness heartland.
Invest Salone, the UK funded private sector development initiative, was accompanied by representatives from British International Investment (BII) and the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA), a consortium of development finance institutions (DFIs) supporting investment in frontier markets. The field trip built on last year’s investment delegation of DFIs and is part of an ongoing series of activities organised by ARIA and Invest Salone, to support the enabling environment for business in Sierra Leone.
The group visited four enterprises to see first-hand their approaches to building a productive agribusiness. These included: Bengal Agro, which produces and processes turmeric and ginger for local and export markets; African Seed, a certified seed production company, offering high-yielding, stress-tolerant varieties of sorghum and soya for local conditions; Oko, a community focused, nature-based solutions carbon credit development company; and Rewilding, a company which takes an afforestation and reforestation approach to carbon credits.
Christina Clark-Lowes, Invest Salone’s investment lead, explained that agribusinesses and larger-scale production companies with the potential to receive investment or enter export markets, particularly those working with outgrowers, are important to Invest Salone’s work. “Agriculture contributes more than 60% of Sierra Leone’s gross domestic product and has huge potential for increased productivity and growth. As well as contributing to food security, nutrition and poverty reduction, a more productive and competitive agricultural sector could play a pivotal role in kick-starting economic transformation in Sierra Leone,” she continued.
Alex Kucharski, Manager at BII and Co-lead for ARIA, said: “We founded ARIA to unlock investment opportunities in markets such as Sierra Leone. Seeing these innovative businesses underlines the huge potential that exists here. In their individual ways, these companies are taking pioneering approaches to increasing agricultural productivity, generating economic opportunities and addressing the climate crisis.”
The field trip followed a roundtable, organised by Invest Salone and ARIA – together with their partners, BII, the International Finance Corporation and FMO (the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank) – to discuss lending bottlenecks and the extent of the private sector finance gap with bank leaders, businesses and DFI representatives.
BII is the UK’s development finance institution and is leading the ARIA process in Sierra Leone. The British High Commission is committed to supporting and facilitating that effort and has developed a Memorandum of Understanding with BII, acting on behalf of ARIA, to guide that engagement.
About ARIA
ARIA aims to unlock investment in frontier markets across Africa, including Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. ARIA helps DFIs with investment opportunities, supports companies in becoming investment-ready and partners with key stakeholders to build early-stage investment ecosystems. The initiative is supported by BII and FMO.
About Invest Salone
Invest Salone is a UK funded programme for private sector development. It boosts investment in agriculture, manufacturing, fisheries and tourism by strengthening the pipeline of investible firms and projects, supports firms to grow their exports, and helps the private and public sectors to find lasting solutions to investment blockages that hamper business growth. Its overall aim is to increase incomes and jobs for thousands of Sierra Leonean women and men.
