Access to Agricultural Finance for Young Entrepreneurs in Developing and Emerging Contexts

The Decent Rural Employment Team in partnership with the RISE Team (Rural Institutions and Services Empowerment) of FAO with technical support of the CABFIN Partnership-a collaboration of development agencies that includes: FAO, IFAD, WFP, GIZ, UNCDF and the World Bank will co-organize a webinar on “Access to Agricultural Finance for Young Entrepreneurs in Developing and Emerging Contexts”

Young entrepreneurs are an essential driving force for the growth of the agricultural sector, yet they face many challenges including access to formal financial services.

The webinar will present the insights and lessons learnt from the development of these country-level studies, followed by a debate among a panel of experts. The debate will focus on the use of digital innovations to foster youth financial inclusion, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Panelists

Ata Cisse
Youth Finance Regional Specialist, UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Ata Cisse works with financial service providers in Africa to develop, test and scale up demand-driven and responsible financial and complementary non-financial services to youth. She is responsible for identifying potential partners keen on connecting financial inclusion initiatives with economic opportunities for youth.

Jean Bosco Iyacu
Country Director of Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR)
Jean Bosco Iyacu has over 15 years of experience working in the Rwandan financial sector and development finance. He is the Country Director of AFR, a Not-for-Profit Company promoting access to financial services for unserved and underserved groups (women, youth, people with disabilities, smallholder farmers, informal sector workers and refugees) and micro, small and medium enterprises in Rwanda.

Sieta Gatabaki
Deputy Programme Director at Mercy Corps AgriFin
Sieka Gatabaki directs all programming in Nigeria for Mercy Corps AgriFin. Before joining AgriFin, Sieka served as Technical Advisor with IFC managing their Airtel Money Uganda accelerator. With over 20 years of experience spanning from social entrepreneurship to telecommunications, he specializes in digital usage and adoption

Tumwebaze Khamutima
CEO of YOFCHAN in Uganda
Tumwebaze Khamutima is the CEO of the Young Farmers Champions Network (YOFCHAN) in Uganda. YOFCHAN works to support the development of small and medium youth-led agri-businesses to expand agricultural production, provide sustainable jobs for the youth and enhance economic growth.