In this participatory session, participants will have an opportunity to understand the challenges associated with smallholder agriculture. Entrepreneurs from Acumen’s agriculture portfolio companies will provide examples of how their business models are having outsized impact, and where they are headed next. Participants will have a chance to consider opportunities to further strengthen the ecosystem of partners and collaborators necessary to create systems-level change for smallholder farmers. To close, Acumen will provide a sneak peek of its forward looking, 5 year strategy as it makes a push towards leveraging patient capital for agriculture systems building.
The key takeaways have been compiled for each Imagine Dignity daytime session from statements made by a diverse group of speakers with unique backgrounds and experiences. Acumen hosted these sessions to provide a forum for conversation and debate. The takeaways are for informational purposes only; they do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Acumen nor constitute an endorsement by Acumen.
The stark reality is that the people who are producing as much as one third of the food that the world eats, and who directly support the day-to-day livelihoods of up to nearly one third of the world’s population, are incredibly exposed to climate change. The capital flows towards everything from R&D to investment capital within the sector demonstrate that financial markets don’t seem to care to factor this in.
Smallholder agriculture is changing in that many farms are actually getting smaller, not bigger. Farmers who do not cluster together to reach economies of scale and adapt to climate change will be forced out.
The collective power of the individuals in a focused group is immense. We have the capital, expertise, and boots on the ground to make real change in smallholder agriculture, like irrigation in Africa. Defining a clear problem and acting collaboratively, not just talking, is what needs to happen.
Tyler Youngblood is the co-founder of Azahar, a Colombia-based coffee company committed to reimagining and redefining the way coffee is grown, processed and distributed globally. Azahar exports to the world's leading specialty coffee roasters under a model of radical transparency, while operating its own cafés and coffee roasting operations in Colombia. Azahar and its 100 full-time employees purchase more than 1,700 tons of coffee per year from over 4,000 producers in Colombia and Mexico, boosting their net income more than 100%. They are also pioneering new tools to address inequity in the coffee value chain on a larger scale, such as the recently launched Sustainable Coffee Buyer's Guide.
Sathya is the Cofounder of Kheyti which implements low-cost farming solutions that help small farmers increase yield and predictability in India. Additionally, he Co-founded CosmosGreen, which builds large climate smart farms that serve as sandboxes for innovation. He trained 25k+ Finance students and is a TED, Mulago, Aspen New voices and Acumen Fellow.
Tamer El-Raghy is the Founding MD of the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF); the world’s first equity fund designed to build the climate resilience of African smallholder farmers utilizing blended finance. He has more than 10 years of experience in PE, VC and M&A in the Agri sector in Africa impacting 100s of thousands of farmers. He holds 9 patents, earned an MBA from NYU Stern and a PhD in Materials Engineering from Drexel University.
Elvia joined Acumen in 2020 as Portfolio Manager for Latin America. Before joining Acumen, Elvia was Manager at FIMI, Fondo Acción’s impact investment fund iwhere her responsibilities included sourcing, analysis, due diligence and deal execution for equity and debt transactions, and monitoring of investments. Prior to that, in her consulting practice, Elvia specialized in sustainable business development and strategic and financial planning for social enterprises and non-profit organizations, and in gender analysis and assessment. Elvia has an MBA from London Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá.
Lindsay Wallace is the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Impact at MEDA. In her 20+ years of experience as senior impact measurement and evaluation economist focusing on innovative finance, impact investing and small business growth, Lindsay gained deep knowledge of program design, evaluation and research techniques across a diverse range of sectors including financial inclusion, innovative finance, agriculture, climate change, education, health and gender. Lindsay earned her M.A. in Public Administration and Policy from Carleton University. She also holds an M.A. in Economics, specializing in Environmental Studies from the University of Toronto.
As Associate Director, Investing in Agriculture Chris shapes Acumen’s position and direction in smallholder agriculture, supports local teams to source and structure agriculture transactions, and designs systems to share agricultural intelligence. Chris joined Acumen in 2021, and most recently served as Director of GrowNYC Farmer Assistance, where he oversaw business development technical assistance programs for small family farms.
