There have been many challenges over the past seven years, but executives say cooperation has carried the initiative forward
There are a number of private sectors initiatives, which along with government support, are transforming the agricultural sector in South Africa.
One of them is Hortfin, a blended-finance scheme established to drive economic development in South Africa’s deciduous fruit industry, which is celebrating seven years of “meaningful impact” this year.
Founded in 2018 by the deciduous fruit and grape industries, Hortfin has provided crucial financial support to emerging, previously disadvantaged growers and businesses in the value chain, enabling industry expansion, economic participation, and job creation.
By offering tailored debt products and post-investment support, Hortfin created sustainable growth opportunities for first-generation agribusinesses throughout the value chain.
“We did not achieve all our targets, and we are hard on ourselves about it,” said Michael Brinkhuis, CEO of Hortfin. “But if we honestly analyse the circumstances over the period, we are pleased with the outcomes.
”The businesses we financed and supported withstood the frightening event of the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by logistics and port inefficiencies of an alarming scale, debilitating loadshedding occurrences and spells of extreme destructive weather conditions but showed incredible tenacity to overcome.
“The challenges we are facing, in general, are mainly in the field of business and administrative readiness of businesses to access and unlock the funding, institutional capabilities to deploy funding resourcefully and the abilities of businesses to competently manage all facets of the business,” he noted.
Speaking at a function reflecting on Hortfin’s progress, chairman Ronald Ramabulana said that over the years the scheme had faced difficult times, but the industry organisations had carried the projects at ”significant risk to themselves”.
“When the commercial banks saw the commitment from industry and the potential of these projects, they became involved,” said Ramabulana.
|It is only through partnerships and by cherishing relationships that Hortfin has reached the current milestone, and we want to acknowledge that.”
The Hortfin model is ripe for reproduction in other agricultural sectors, according to Najwah Allie-Edries of the Jobs Fund Head.
Allie-Edries said the Jobs Fund was ”proud” to be associated with Hortfin and that it had ”significantly impacted” the transformation of the deciduous fruit industry.
“Hortfin played a crucial role in helping emerging farmers and rural areas flourish through economic growth, job creation, infrastructure development and knowledge transfer that will ripple through the next generation, paving the way for sustainable transformation,” she added.
