By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the IDH Sustainable Trade initiative are calling for the submission of expressions of interest from financial and agricultural service providers looking to boost business performance while delivering services that improve rural women’s climate resilience.
Applicants should have the zeal to see inclusive finance as key to commercial viability and have practical ideas on how to use financial services to increase the climate resilience of smallholder women farmers.
Selected providers will be invited to join ABERA, Accelerating Business to Empower Rural Women in Agriculture, which is a collaboration between CGAP and IDH.
ABERA is a cohort of financial and agricultural service providers that aims to improve the climate resilience of providers and the rural women they serve through innovations in inclusive finance in a way that makes business sense.
ABERA offers providers an opportunity to grow their business by jointly developing financial products and solutions that help rural women adapt and thrive in the face of climate change.
The IDH Farmfit program includes successful data-backed examples demonstrating how access to financial services is crucial for delivering large-scale climate-smart solutions to rural women, as well as better integrating women in agricultural markets and financial systems.
ABERA’s objectives are to:
- Articulate the business case for financial and agricultural service providers to extend innovative services that are gender-inclusive and lead to rural women’s climate-resilience.
- Accelerate the adoption and scale-up of business models that improve the climate resilience of business and women.
- Generate practical models and concrete guidance for practitioners looking to serve rural women better.
ABERA currently works with five companies—Hello Tractor in Kenya, BRAC Tanzania Finance Limited (BTFL) in Tanzania, and Sistema.bio, Samunnati, and Avanti Finance in India—and it is competitively recruiting its next cohort.
Selection Criteria for ABERA cohort 2
- Medium to large businesses in the financial and/or agricultural sector that already serve or source from at least 5,000 farmers and operate in Asia and/or Africa
- Willing to share gender-disaggregated data (covered by confidentiality) on their suppliers, customers, and staff and deploy it to inform decisions and track performance
- Willing to share anonymized data (covered by confidentiality) to develop successful pilots, generate insights, and drive scale
- Committed to engaging more rural women as customers, in their value chain, and as employees
- Committed to building climate resilience for their business and its customers
- Ready to co-invest with ABERA and commit staff time and resources to ensure the success and scale of pilots
Benefits
- Optimizing business performance through tailored technical assistance that supports them to design, test, and scale climate-resilient solutions for rural women
- Climate-proofed strategy and operations through data-driven decision making
- Curated networking and peer exchange through virtual and in person convenings
- Visibility through CGAP and IDH communications, including websites, publications and strategic partnership events
- Connections with potential investors, results-based financiers, donors and other key sector players
Responsibilities
- Time and human resources to participate in and support company assessments, regular meetings, and the implementation of recommendations to improve the company’s business models
- Willingness to share and exchange company experiences with the cohort, contributing to the group’s understanding of challenges, opportunities, and best practices among firms serving rural women
- Information and data on company policies, procedures, products, human resources, and business performance with CGAP and IDH. No commercially sensitive or proprietary data will be shared publicly or with other cohort members without the explicit consent of the company
- Willingness to pilot select relevant recommendations from the ABERA business analysis
- Participation in the cohort for 2-3 years to ensure that longer-term outcomes are captured
Key Documents
- Detailed call for applications in English and French: Information about ABERA, the call for expressions of interest, selection criteria, and application process. (Voir le texte complet de l’appel à manifestation d’intérêt, en français, y compris les instructions de candidature)
- Expression of interest form: Interested companies apply using this online form.
Timeline
April 22, 2025: Deadline for companies to submit an Expression of Interest form.
May 2025: The ABERA team evaluates all submissions against the above criteria and shortlisted companies.
June 2025: Final selection and onboarding of Cohort 2 companies.
How to Apply
Click here to start applying.
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and IDH Sustainable Trade initiative invite financial and agricultural service providers to submit interest expressions for the ABERA program, aimed at enhancing rural women's climate resilience through inclusive finance. ABERA supports businesses in developing financial products that help rural women adapt to climate change while improving providers' performance. Current partners include Hello Tractor in Kenya, and BRAC Tanzania Finance Limited, among others. The criteria for selection include businesses operating in Asia and Africa with at least 5,000 farmers, committed to using data for gender-inclusive decision-making and ready to co-invest with ABERA. Benefits of participation include technical assistance, climate-proofed strategies, networking opportunities, and visibility among potential investors. Interested companies must submit their applications by April 22, 2025, with the selection process concluding in June 2025.
