Events
We bring investors, development finance institutions, government and African founders into the same room — where projects get originated, structured and funded.
Upcoming
No events scheduled right now.
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Previously
Where we've convened before, and who was in the room.
Roundtable: Connecting Institutional Capital to East African Trade
A closed-door evening roundtable on why global institutional capital treats East African agricultural trade as un-investable and discussing a couple of financial instruments could change that.
EUDR & Traceability Workshop
A half-day workshop for farmers, cooperatives and exporters on EUDR and the wider family of organic, ethical-sourcing and supply-chain standards that decide who reaches the world’s premium, single-origin markets. Organised by Commodity Plus with WEF Uganda and the Busoga Coffee & Cocoa Tourism Festival.
Both papers, in the open
The closing session of the series, held on publication day for both white papers: what we set out to argue, what we changed our minds about, and what we still cannot answer.
Designing the instrument: inside a trade securitisation
The most technical session of the series: a structure walkthrough of what it would take to package East African agricultural trade receivables into something an institutional investor can actually buy.
Why institutional mandates can't hold East African trade
A session on the mechanics of exclusion: the rules, ratings and ticket sizes that keep pension and insurance capital out of East African agricultural trade regardless of the underlying risk.
The Missing Middle: reading the draft together
We circulated the draft of the first white paper and spent the hour being argued with. Several of the criticisms raised here changed the published version.
Contract farming as an asset class: notes from Umoja
A case-based session on the Umoja Agricultural Hubs in Uganda — what contract farming looks like when you have to underwrite it rather than admire it.
Who pays for project preparation?
The central question of The Missing Middle. Preparation capital is the highest-risk money in the chain and attracts the least attention — we looked at why, and at the models that try to fix it.
The documents that don't exist
A working session on the specific paperwork that separates an idea from a financeable project: feasibility studies, offtake agreements, environmental and social assessments, and title.
What actually stops African projects reaching capital
The opening session of the series: if capital is abundant and African projects are plentiful, why do so few of them ever meet? We argued the bottleneck is preparation, not appetite.