British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution (DFI) and impact investor, announced a $26.5 million commitment to AFEX, Africa’s leading commodities platform.

AFEX currently operates over 200 warehouses in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda and serves over 450,000 farmers. BII’s investment will be used to build 20 modern warehouses in strategic locations in the three countries to provide 230,000 MT of storage capacity, and scale warehouse technology and next-generation software that captures post-harvest pricing, BII said in a press statement.

The capital will also be used to develop a soybean processing plant in Ibadan, the third-largest city by population in Nigeria, and a drying facility in Uganda, the statement said. 

The construction of the storage facilities and soy processing facilities will generate over 700 temporary jobs and more than 80 permanent roles, while the new warehouses will enable up to 200,000 more farmers to access low-cost storage and maximise sales from crop harvests, potentially helping increase farmer incomes, the statement noted.

(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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