Through RuralInvest the field technician understands what the farmer's vision is, learns how and which data need to be collected and inputs it into the software, which automatically systematizes the information and brings to life clear and visually effective business plans. ©FAO/Luis Tato

FAO News; 09/03/2023

Rome - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has finalized the latest update of a toolkit that aims to revolutionize small and middle-sized rural entrepreneurship. RuralInvest, the methodology developed by the FAO Investment Centre, offers its users a path from theory to practice, to assist entrepreneurs in creating sustainable and bankable business plans.

In the absence of clear and effective business models, farmers and rural entrepreneurs find it challenging to convince financial institutions and banks to invest, also given that agriculture is often considered a risky investment and its profitability difficult to gauge. Over 80 percent of the world’s food is produced by family farming, yet less than 10 percent of smallholders have access to finance.

The idea at the heart of RuralInvest is to make small and medium-sized entrepreneurs thrive by empowering them, through specially trained intermediaries – that is, platform users - to translate their business ideas and vision into concrete plans that can attract investors.

Based on the FAO team’s decades of experience in the field of rural investments, the methodology and its software have been constantly fine-tuned yielding impressive results. Over the past five years, RuralInvest has supported the growth of more than 1,000 agribusinesses in more than 15 countries, catalyzing an estimated $34 million in investment to date and supporting a new generation of rural enterprises worldwide.

The latest version of the software, offers a user-friendly, multilingual interface, combined with hands-on support, opening to a wider range of users.

See more https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/ruralinvest-toolkit-fosters-access-to-finance-for-small-and-medium-sized-agricultural-enterprises/en