Podcast: Excitement builds as Agda and Excelsis join forces

The Agricultural Development Agency (Agda) represent a beacon of hope when it comes to anything agricultural. This is according to Natie Engelbrecht, director of Excelsis Cooperative U.A., who believes that Agda ticks all the right boxes, making them an ideal partner for stakeholders across the agricultural sector.

In this episode of Farmer’s Inside Track, listeners learn about the new partnership between these two organisations and what it will mean for South African agriculture.

Great possibilities in-store

According to Agda CEO Leona Archary, their partnership with Excelsis presents great possibilities for South Africa’s agri sector.

“When we started Agda, we were going to set up an agri impact fund. The journey has been longer than expected. So, we have actually launched the Excelsis Agda Fund Management company through which we’re going to be raising capital,” she said.

Their first target is to raise €15 million by December 2023, which Archary says will help them grow developing agriculture as well as commercial farmers in the country.

Stronger together: Agda pushes for agri partnerships

Agda is in a league of its own

Meanwhile, Engelbrecht shares why it was so important for them to partner with Agda and their developmental agenda.

“We saw an opportunity. We at Excelsis work mostly with African farmers, growers, and distributors and we struggling to find the combination of commercial and development aspects, which opens up a completely different access to funding for us. So to get commercial funding is fairly simple. To get funding that will really make it different, is really difficult.”

He shares why Agda ticked all the right boxes for them. “You’ve got a lot of talk of organisations like that, but there’s no one that comes close to Agda.”