EA Foods Ltd

Debt : April 2024

BIO has granted a USD 3.2 M loan to EA Foods Limited, a Tanzanian food aggregator and distribution company.

Amount

$ 3,200,000.00

Type of investment

Debt

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Food security & rural development

Beneficiary locations

Africa: Tanzania

Investment field

Enterprises

Activity

G46.31 Wholesale of fruit and vegetables

Organisation

EA Foods Ltd

Website

https://www.eafruits.com/

Domicile

Tanzania

More investments in

EA Foods Ltd

Subsidy € 10,448.00 (2023)

EA Foods Limited (“EAF”) is a food aggregator business that sources, packages, brands, and distributes fresh (bananas, potatoes, onions) and dried produce (rice, beans). The company operates at farm level, collecting produce via its own trucks or at collection centres. EAF purchases up to the entire production from smallholder farmers and pays them on the spot through mobile money. After collection, the produce is transported to distribution centers in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, from where it is distributed to clients, which mainly consist of street vendors, wholesalers, supermarkets, shops and hotels.

EAF has built strong relationships with farmer groups and has an outreach of currently 6,000 smallholder farmers.

EA Foods aims to expand its collection and distribution network by opening new distribution operations in Dodoma and Zanzibar and extending their sourcing capacities. BIO’s investment will support the company to set up the new centres, to purchase the necessary trucks and equipment to grow operations, and to finance the increased, permanent need for working capital, given higher volumes of produce being purchased and sold. The investment will also support EAF’s aim to become a fully tech-enabled business, looking to integrate current IT applications into a customized platform.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Sourcing from farmers in the north, south, and coastal region of Tanzania, supporting the employment of low-skilled workers in remote areas. EAF aims to expand their network of smallholder farmers from 6,000 in 2023 to 10,000 in 2025, which should have a strong revenue generation and employment effect on the agri supply chain. Support job creation at company level in urban and rural areas.
Private sector consolidation/innovation
The investment should help to further structure the agri supply chain by cutting out middlemen and reducing post-harvest losses. Farmer trainings and access to quality inputs to achieve high quality produce and reduce post-harvest loss. BIO's investment would support the business to digitize their operations as much as possible through their farmer and vendor management systems, data analysis and real time reporting.
Food security & rural development
Improving availability and access to food by integrating the supply chain and reducing food waste. EAF acts as a reliable offtaker and collaborates with NGOs and input providers to offer trainings on good farming practices. EAF also helps enable access to financial services through agreements with banks and input providers. The crops sourced (potato, banana, onion, rice and beans) are typical to the region and traditionally consumed by the population.

E&S Impact

EA Foods agrees on updating their HR policy, casual workers policy and HR management system in order to ensure compliance with Tanzanian legislation and BIO's standards. EA Foods also agreed on developing a plan to convert part of their casual workers into full-time employees when possible, as part of a long term commitment towards decent work. EAF also agreed to identify dangerous chemicals in their supply chain and develop a suppliers' code of conduct.

Situation at the time of investment

The main risks identified mainly tied to working conditions for casual workers. Mazars Consulting did an external HR assessment of EAF's HR policies and practices: they identified several gaps which will be corrected in an agreed upon action plan.

Risk Category: B