The Southern Africa Food Systems Transformation Alliance, convened by IDH and U Can Grow Africa, is the first of its kind in the region was launched on 21 June 2023. This is a business-led collaboration to invest in the transformation of Southern African food systems. Centered on the ambition for 80% of total viable sourcing to be from within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region by 2033, the Alliance sets the stage for food companies to work together to unlock local sourcing and invest in the next generation farmers and food manufacturing companies.
To support the realization these ambitions, IDH will setup a South Africa-based Investment Development Hub, comprised of grant and seed financing facilities. Grant financing coupled with technical support will be employed to develop early-stage business cases, while seed capital will be invested to enable scaling.
The Alliance has the potential to achieve the following:
- Collaboration between Southern African food companies to unlock sector-benefiting investments
- Strengthen the competitiveness of Southern African food value chains to serve local and regional markets (food and nutritional security) and reduce import dependency
- Test and scale innovative and inclusive business models, inclusive of small and emerging farmers, women, and youth
- Collectively improve the climate resilience of Southern African food value chains through investments in climate adaptive and regenerative production systems
- Create new jobs through stimulating economic opportunities