Victor Ezeja
Sterling Bank, in conjunction with the Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund (AATIF), is set to promote environment-friendly agriculture businesses by lending the sum of $15 million to sustainable and renewable energy-powered agric enterprises.
A statement from AATIF said the $15 million medium-term facility from the Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund further extends its partnership with Sterling Bank, which started in 2019 with an initial vision to support the growth of the bank’s agricultural activities. “Since then, Sterling Bank and AATIF have worked together on numerous projects, with the bank making commendable contributions to the Nigerian agricultural sector. The extension of this partnership marks a new chapter in this fruitful relationship.”
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIn a statement issued by the lender, Group Head for Agriculture and Solid Minerals Finance, Dr Olushola Obikanye, said the funding will further deepen Sterling’s agricultural investments in the agribusiness industry, promote sustainable practices, and encourage farmers to explore environment-friendly systems.
Also speaking on the funding, Sterling Bank’s Group Head for Energy, Dele Faseemo, said the fund will seek to increase Sterling’s funding for renewable energy installations in the agricultural sector and will positively impact lending in the sector as well as the Nigerian economy.
Speaking about the funding, Ms Doris Koehn, chair of the AATIF Board of Directors, said: “When we first invested in Sterling Bank, we were keen to help actualize its impressive ambitions in growing its agricultural portfolio in Nigeria. Four and a half years later, we are proud to renew our partnership with the Bank and are focused on further enabling its efforts towards serving local smallholder farmers.”
The Bank has become renowned as one of the key partners and lenders to the agricultural sector, with over N100 billion, or approximately 13 per cent of its lending portfolio, currently financing agricultural businesses across Nigeria.
This, amongst other initiatives such as the Agriculture Summit Africa; the continent’s largest private sector-driven conference on the industry, and the Nigerian Farmers’ Radio; an educative radio programme promoting good agricultural practices aired in all geo-political zones of Nigeria, has endeared the bank to primary producers, aggregators, commodity processors, and exporters.
These initiatives recently saw Sterling awarded the best-participating bank by the Agric Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund.
Sterling has also innovated in the renewable energy space with the launch of Imperium, its solution to power homes and businesses, and is currently in the final stages of deploying Nigeria’s largest solar-powered solution for commercial property with the ongoing transformation of its Lagos Marina headquarters.
The 18-storey building has been fitted with over 3,000 photovoltaic panels and will generate power from renewable sources.
Agriculture and Renewable Energy form two of the five core pillars of Sterling’s now-famous HEART strategy, with the remaining sectors being Health, Education, and Transportation.
The Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund is a public-private partnership dedicated to promoting the food / agri sector across Africa by providing patient capital and technical assistance. The fund provides debt financing to small, medium, and large-scale agribusinesses along the entire agriculture value chain, as well as financial institutions active in the sector.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
