The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, has announced a $7 million investment to support the expansion of the Kenyan Vegpro group into Ghana.
The project helps the African company expand into a new market, allowing sustainable land development while providing jobs and creating a supply chain that includes small-scale farmers. Vegpro will use IFC’s investment in developing a 1,070 ha farm in the west African country and work with 800 smallholders to boost production for the European export market.
James Cartwright, business development director of Vegpro said: “Vegpro will apply the lessons from thirty years of horticulture business in Kenya, to create similar success and productivity. Crops, like chilies, butternut and baby corn, which grow less well in Kenya, will flourish in Ghana. Vegpro aims to train as many as 1,500 workers new to the sector by 2014.”
Vegpro Group has experienced rapid growth, with turnover increasing from $3m to $100m since IFC’s first loan in 1995. Along with growing, processing and exporting vegetables, The Vegpro Group is also one of Kenya’s top-five flower exporters and owns one of the country’s top three cargo agents.
Vegpro will build on Ghana’s policies that have helped improve infrastructure for agribusiness. The country recently invested in a perishable cargo centre at the airport and the Kpong Left Bank Irrigation Project.
Vegpro will be the anchor tenant in the irrigation project after signing a 50-year lease with the Ghanaian government. It has also formed a new joint venture company with Air Ghana to manage the new airside perishables centre at Kotoka International Airport, Ghana’s main international airport.
Yoande Duhem, IFC director for west and central Africa said: “Vegpro Group’s proactive growth in Ghana demonstrates the opportunities for African companies in the agribusiness sector. IFC is eager to help companies like Vegpro that want to improve food production, and expand the African agribusiness sector beyond the home market.” IFC will also provide advisory services on corporate governance to help position Vegpro Group as a strong international company.
The IFC has stated that agribusiness is a strategic priority for it in light of the growing challenge of food security in Africa. The agricultural sector is also a large source of employment for Africans, providing links with smaller businesses.
