Luca Torre participates in SAFIN webinar on Investing in Agriculture during the COVID-19 crisis

Source: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

June 2020.

Luca Torre, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of GAWA Capital, participated in the Webinar hosted by the Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN) focusing on "Investing in Agriculture during COVID-19: Perspectives from the Impact Finance World".

The COVID-19 pandemic has been taking its toll all over the world, yet smallholder farmers, SMEs and other actors in agricultural value chains are seeing a pressing need for working capital and trade finance in order to keep afloat throughout this complex time. The role of agriculture financial service providers is ever more important given this situation, with the webinar aiming to answer, amongst others, the following questions:

• How is the crisis affecting the demand for impact finance in the sector, particularly among NBFIs, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and agri-SMEs? 

• What new risks and opportunities does COVID-19 bring to their existing portfolio and the potential pipeline of impact investors in this sector?

• How are investors responding to these new risks and opportunities, and what are the challenges in doing so?

• Is there scope for better coordination among different types of impact finance providers – particularly private impact investors and DFIs – to address the financial needs of agri-SMEs, NBFIs and MFIs against COVID-19?

You can find a link to the webinar here.

The Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN) is a network of 48 institutions from different parts of the landscape of agricultural finance, who share a commitment to accelerate access to finance for small and medium enterprises in agricultural value chains. Partners include financial institutions, philanthropies, social lenders, technical assistance providers, farmers' organizations, and development finance organizations. The network provides a pre-competitive space for these institutions to share learning, address strategic issues and knowledge gaps in a coordinated manner, and foster innovative solutions to address common challenges.