Foundation invests in sustainable cocoa sector in the Philippines with first loan to Kennemer Foods International
In July, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted an initial loan to Kennemer Foods International in the Philippines, for an amount equivalent to 1.1 million euros in USD.
Kennemer Foods International is an agricultural company with a strong social and environmental impact, active in the collection and processing of cocoa, bananas, and other agricultural products, and the largest Philippine supplier of cocoa beans on the international market. The company sources from approximately 20,000 smallholder farmers, offering various services throughout the value chain: supply of high-quality inputs, pre-financing solutions, guarantee of the total purchase of the harvest at prices linked to the world price, access to agricultural microinsurance solutions and training in sustainable cocoa farming practices. This support results in an improvement in the quality of life of farmers and an increase in their resilience to growing climate risks, while maintaining good soil health over the long term.
Kennemer created a subsidiary financial institution, Agronomika, to facilitate access to financing for small producers, and more recently another entity, Kennemer Eco-Solutions, to launch a carbon credit activity through the protection and restoration of forests in Mindanao, in the south of the archipelago.
According to Vincent Brousseau, Director of the Impact Business Financing division at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, this partnership with Kennemer foreshadows the 2025 ambitions of the Foundation's new medium-term plan. The Foundation will seek to partner with local stakeholders positioned at the crossroads of social and financial inclusion of rural communities, and climate issues and the fight against biodiversity loss.
For Simon Bakker, CEO of Kennemer Foods, this partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation represents a strategic initiative with an organization with similar goals. Grameen Crédit Agricole's mission to combat poverty through financial inclusion and rural development aligns perfectly with Kennemer's own mission.
With this new investment, the Foundation is relaunching its impact business financing activities. It currently has eight impact business partners, particularly in the agricultural sector, which represents 641,000 TND of its funding.
