United Gulf Financial Services-North Africa (UGFS-NA) continues to make a positive impact in Tunisia’s private equity sector with the launch of its new impact fund, “Seed of Change Fund.”
This initiative is the result of a partnership with the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE), a regional program funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which provided the technical assistance and expertise required to establish the fund.
This impact fund is the first of its kind in Tunisia to address key challenges faced by small and medium-sized farmers, primarily related to declining productivity and margins, access to financing, climate change, and water consumption.
The “Seed of Change Fund” is an impact investment fund, aiming to empower farmers by investing in key players along their value chains, to make agricultural processes more profitable, smart, and sustainable.
The fund’s vision is to implement a theory of change, leading to the transformation of farming methods and practices to generate positive impacts on the living conditions of smallholders (income), on their land (sustainable agriculture), and on the environment (optimizing water consumption and reducing carbon footprints).
The Impact Fund’s strategy relies on a balanced investment approach, integrating financial returns with social and environmental goals. Transparency and the measurement of real impacts and returns are prioritized, with active management to optimize social and environmental outcomes across different regions.
Several key players within the agricultural value chain have expressed interest in collaborating with the fund, along with well-known financial institutions that have previously partnered with UGFS in launching other investment funds.
This ambitious project highlights UGFS-NA’s commitment to agriculture and economic development in Tunisia, aiming to improve agricultural production by 15%, reduce agricultural input costs by 20%, and lower water consumption by 30%, while creating and enhancing more than 10,000 jobs, with a substantial share of these positions dedicated to women and university graduates.
United Gulf Financial Services-North Africa (UGFS-NA) is a fund manager and a key player in private equity in Tunisia, managing total assets of over 220 million Tunisian dinars, with 20 managed funds and a portfolio of over 130 startups and SMEs to date.
