Seeds of Transformation

Salamata Kouraogo / Credit: USAID CATALYZE F4R

In the village of Dimistenga, located in the Centre-Est region of Burkina Faso, Salamata Kouraogo earns her living by trading nuts, beans, rice, and grain — a vital yet challenging enterprise in her rural community.

Thanks to a 50,000 FCFA (US $82) loan through the USAID CATALYZE Finance for Resilience (F4R) Activity, Salamata diversified her business and started purchasing product in bulk, which has helped her to better anticipate and respond to growing demand in the local market.

Read the full photo story.

Throughout the life of the Activity (2020–2024), CATALYZE F4R mobilized $22.3 million in private capital — a 1:11 return on every US dollar spent — and supported 1,875 agricultural and youth-led micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to access affordable financing across specific intervention zones and in target value chains in Burkina Faso and Niger.