Avenews at FINAS 2025: Financing Built for Agri-Trade
- Millie
- May 27
- 2 min read
The FINAS 2025 Summit at KICC set out to rethink how we finance Africa’s food systems — and Avenews was right where we needed to be.
Capital doesn’t move at the same pace as trade. Most financing models don’t reflect the seasonal, high-turnover nature of agriculture in Kenya. That’s why we’re building something different.
Our purpose: To bring financing closer to how agri-SMEs trade, with data, flexibility, and speed.
What We Shared
In the Digital Innovation for Food Systems session, our CEO, Jonathan Tseelon, outlined how Avenews is moving beyond collateral. Our model uses:
Invoices, mobile money flows, and ledgers to assess creditworthiness
AI underwriting that factors in seasonality and price shifts
Flexible terms like grace periods and seasonal repayment options
The result? ✅ Over 70% of financed agri-businesses have expanded ✅ 55% have created new jobs
Why It Matters
Agri-SMEs, suppliers, distributors, and aggregators are essential to Kenya’s food system. Yet, they’re often under financed because they don’t fit traditional lending criteria.
At Financing Agri-food Systems Sustainably(FINAS), we showed that data can be collateral, and finance must follow trade, not the other way around.
Partnerships That Propelled the Conversation
We had the privilege of connecting with institutions and leaders actively shaping the future of agri-finance across Kenya and the region.
We are especially grateful to the organisations championing practical and scalable solutions for agri-SMEs, including : AGRA, Cereal Growers Association, CropLife Kenya, Wambugu Apples, Kenya Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Warehouse Receipt System Council, Kenya Development Corporation (KDC), Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO),Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Netherlands Food Partnership, Foresight4Food Initiative, African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN), and African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) — among others.
With Deep Appreciation
We were honoured to host Hon. Musalia Mudavadi, EGH, and Hon. Mutahi Kagwe, EGH, along with Moses Kimani, Advisor to the PS, State Department for Livestock Development, at our booth. They took time to understand how our approach, financing based on trade supports agri-businesses to keep the value chain moving.
We are also deeply thankful for the insights and conversations shared with Dr. Charity Mutegi Simon Kinuthia, Sector Head – Agriculture, Daniel Munyambu, Agribusiness Specialist, Absa Kenya Dr. Lilian Mbuthia, Executive Officer, Fertilizer Association of Kenya (FAK), Lisette van Benthum, Partnership Manager, Netherlands Food Partnership, Lucy Komen, CEO, Warehouse Receipt System Council, Millicent Sedi, Senior Manager – Agriculture and Food Systems, MicroSave Consulting (MSC) and others. Your time, thought partnership, and commitment to inclusive growth are what make this sector move forward, and we’re grateful to be building alongside you.
Looking Ahead
We’re ready to collaborate with:
Supply chain players that need liquidity
Off-takers managing delayed payments
Policymakers and DFIs scaling smart capital deployment
Avenews is committed to disbursing KES 2.5 billion in trade financing in Kenya this year alone, and that’s just the start.
Partner With Us
To Join our Intermediaries Network Contact: Emmanuel Murai – emmanuel.murai@avenews-gt.com To Collaborate on programs, market access, and ecosystem initiatives Contact: Betty Mulemia Simiyu – betty@avenews-gt.com
