Seeding Success

USAID CATALYZE Partners with Financial Facilitators to Foster Growth for Sahelian Farmers

In West Africa’s Sahel region, smallholder farmers have long grappled with the challenge of accessing affordable credit. For these farmers, timely access to credit isn’t just a financial matter; it’s a lifeline that ensures they can purchase essential agricultural inputs (including seed, fertilizer, animal feed, and more) to cultivate their land, generate income through sales, and meet household food supply needs. In Burkina Faso’s financial sector, financial facilitators (financial professionals who connect micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises [MSMEs] with financial institutions to secure financing) play a pivotal role in providing enterprises access to affordable credit as they assist them in navigating the complex loan application process and securing much-needed financing to fuel their livelihood activities. This is done by helping the enterprises identify local banks and microfinance institutions, prepare loan applications, as well as monitor loan implementation and become viable candidates for future lending.

Recognizing this critical need, the USAID CATALYZE Finance for Resilience (F4R) Activity works with financial facilitators to enhance access to financing for MSMEs within the agricultural sector to strengthen linkages between enterprises in need of affordable lines of credit, and banks with resources. The Activity does this by employing a pay-for-results​​ mechanism that financially incentivizes both financial institutions and financial facilitators to mobilize private capital in CATALYZE F4R target geographic regions and ​economic sectors, with the goal of improving the livelihoods and food security of local communities. To maximize the impact of this approach, financial facilitators are further incentivized to increase lending to women- and youth-led MSMEs, who are disproportionately impacted by ongoing conflict and increased food insecurity in the region.

Financial Facilitator Jean Frédéric Assodan partnered with CATALYZE F4R through its Emerging Financial Facilitator Network. Through this partnership he has facilitated the distribution of $542,459 of capital to 71 MSMEs in the Burkina Faso agricultural sector.

Jean Frédéric Assodan, a financial facilitator with deep ambition, expertise, and a network of reliable contacts in the banking and microfinance sectors, joined CATALYZE F4R as an emerging financial facilitator in October 2021. With eight years of experience providing technical assistance to businesses, such as drafting business plans, providing training and management tools, coaching small and medium-sized enterprises, and securing finance, Assodan has helped numerous clients across Burkina Faso access the credit needed to grow and sustain their businesses.

Many MSMEs in the agriculture sector find it difficult to secure traditional loans due to their lack of collateral and perception among lenders as high-risk. Drawing from his previous experience from La Maison de l’Entreprise Burkina (an association that aims to provide enterprises easy access to various financial services in one place and foster synergy among financial actors and support organizations), Assodan dedicated himself to understanding the specific needs of MSMEs and analyzing their financial situations. Using his contacts within banks, microfinance institutions, and CATALYZE F4R’s network of financial institutions, he worked to identify partners willing to finance loans for clients.

Since partnering with CATALYZE F4R in 2021, Assodan has facilitated the distribution of $542,459 in private capital loans to 71 MSMEs in Burkina Faso’s agricultural sector. This financing has not only helped sustain these MSMEs but propelled their growth trajectory and profitability. ​

Assodan visiting members of the Provincial Union of Cowpea Producers in the Center North region of Burkina Faso. Assodan visits with his clients to better understand their loan needs.

Financial facilitators add tangible value by helping businesses obtain the financing they need to grow and succeed. Using the pay-for-results incentive model, CATALYZE F4R is incentivizing emerging financial facilitators to help MSMEs in Burkina Faso’s agriculture sector access affordable credit. As a result, these MSMEs can invest in their businesses, ultimately leading to increased agricultural productivity and food production. This enhanced productivity contributes to greater food security across the country by strengthening local food systems, reducing dependency on imports, and ensuring a more reliable food supply for communities. Since launching its Financial Facilitators network, CATALYZE F4R has helped to mobilize more than $3.6 million to 184 MSMEs in Burkina Faso.