Zanele Mabelane, Product Portfolio Head at FNB Commercial
As South Africa’s agricultural sector gathers at NAMPO Cape, the focus on the future of farming provides an important opportunity to consider how more women-owned and women-led agricultural businesses can move from participation to sustainable commercial growth.
That’s according to Zanele Mabelane, Product Portfolio Head of Agriculture at FNB, who says that while women are highly active across agriculture – from primary production to processing, input supply and other parts of the value chain – many still lack access to appropriate finance, commercial opportunities and the right support to enable them to build businesses that can invest, expand and compete over the long term.
She says that FNB is committed to addressing these challenges for women in agri-businesses by providing them practical and accessible funding solutions designed around the realities of growing an agricultural business. “Women don’t only need opportunities to enter agriculture; they need the ability to build businesses that can grow, invest and compete sustainably,” says Mabelane. “That requires support that will make a real difference to their businesses through cost-effective funding at reasonable terms, giving them the ability to invest in productive capacity.”
To deliver this, FNB has introduced a dedicated Women in Agriculture Funding initiative for qualifying women-owned and women-led businesses within the agricultural value chain. The initiative provides access to a dedicated pool of funding, available until fully allocated to help businesses reduce financing costs and invest in sustainable growth. The funding can be used to support a range of commercial priorities, including expanding production, increasing processing capacity, investing in value-added opportunities and strengthening participation in agricultural supply chains.
Mabelane says the aim is to help established and growth-stage agri businesses make the investments needed to reach their next stage of growth. “Agriculture is capital intensive, and the timing and structure of finance can have a significant impact on a business’s ability to expand,” she says. “By providing more affordable longer-term funding, we want to give qualifying women-owned and women-led businesses more room to invest in the assets, infrastructure and opportunities that can improve their competitiveness.”
She explains that the initiative forms part of FNB’s wider focus on agricultural transformation and supporting emerging businesses to become stronger commercial participants in the sector. It’s also a conversation that FNB continues to encourage across the sector, particularly on platforms like the upcoming NAMPO Cape, where farmers, industry participants and financial partners come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping the sector.
FNB will be hosting a Future Farmers Roundtable at NAMPO, which will bring emerging farmers together to participate in that discussion and highlight the challenges, opportunities and realities of building sustainable agricultural enterprises.
According to Mabelane, the roundtable initiative is one of the ways FNB is responding to the urgent need for a more inclusive agricultural economy, which ultimately depends on helping businesses achieve lasting commercial strength. “Transformation becomes sustainable when businesses are able to stand on strong commercial foundations,” she emphasises. “Our role is to understand what those businesses need to grow and, where we can, structure our support in a way that helps them build scale, create employment and participate more meaningfully across the agricultural value chain.”
Qualifying existing FNB clients can contact their FNB Business Banker for more information about the Women in Agriculture Funding offering.
