Donor Name: The Common Fund for Commodities
Funding name: Funding innovation – support for commodity development
Funding brief: The Common Fund for Commodities provides financing to organizations and enterprises engaged in commodity value chains in its member countries. Through a range of financial instruments, the CFC seeks to support business activities in the field of commodity development, including agriculture, minerals and metals in Developing Countries. The intervention should, besides giving a sound financial return, also provide for a measurable social and environmental return.
Objective: CFC supports activities which promote the contribution of the commodity sector to sustainable development of CFC member countries in the following aspects:
(i) Social: Create employment (particularly for youth and women), provide sustained increase in household incomes, reduce poverty, and enhance food security.
(ii) Economic: Enhance production and productivity; achieve higher local value addition; improve competitiveness of producers, producer organizations and small and medium sized industries, support the financial sector development.
(iii) Environmental: Enhance production taking into account the environment and its long term possibilities for the same, or increased use of productive resources while maintaining or reducing the impact on the environment.
The CFC supports implementation of activities along the value chain that:
– are innovative, scalable and replicable,
– are financially sustainable,
– have a potential measurable positive socio-economic and environmental impact on the stakeholders in commodity value chains as compared to the prevailing baseline situation,
– develop stronger connections with existing markets or create new markets along the value chain,
– increase financial or other services available for commodity producers and commodity based businesses,
– enhance knowledge generation and information dissemination, and
– build effective and cost efficient collaboration between producers, industry, governments, civil society organizations and other stakeholders for commodity based development.
Deadline: 30 April 2017
Funding details link: http://common-fund.org/call-for-proposals/
Funding limit: CFC contribution not exceeding USD 120, 000
Special Notes:
● Location of operations and development relevance: Please indicate the primary and any secondary geographical location(s) where project operations would take place and how the proposed operations would relate to the development issues prevailing in those locations. The CFC expects that projects receiving financial support are implemented in the Member Countries of the CFC (see the website of the CFC for a complete list). The proponents are expected to be aware of the need for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to relate the development impact of the proposal to achieving specific SDGs.
● Target market and commodity-orientation: Please characterize the target market from which the project would generate income stream(s) and how these are related to the commodity sector. The CFC expects that projects primarily take advantage of opportunities in commodity value chains.
● Financial viability: Please complete all cells in the table provided in this section. The CFC expects to finance projects with recoverable forms of financing, e.g. loans, equity, quasi-equity etc. Projects with a CFC contribution not exceeding USD 120,000 are eligible to be financed under the Fast Track Facility.
● Relevant experience in the proposed type of operations: Provide a short summary of the most relevant past
● Term loans:
– loan amount between USD 300,000 and USD 1,500,000 (or EUR equivalent);
– loan period up to 7 years with maximum 2 year grace period;
– collateralized with pledge / mortgage over fixed assets or with third party guarantees;
– indicative interest rate between 5% and 10% depending on CFC’s assessment of risk and local market rates.
● Equity stake in impact investment funds and other forms of impact financing:
– equity amount between USD 300,000 and USD 1,500,000 (or EUR equivalent);
– minority stakes only;
– clear exit divestment strategy;
– board representation by a CFC nominated delegate may be required.
● Fast track financing: Can be considered for activities yielding immediate results towards CFC objectives as stated under Section 4 and / or the development of innovative products and services in a pre-commercial phase:
– financing amount of between USD 50,000 and USD 120,000 (or EUR equivalent);
– in principle, Fast Track financing concerns returnable funding with flexible financing and security conditions, under a simplified approval procedure.
Please bear in mind that:
– the CFC will only consider proposals where its share of financing does not exceed 50% of the total amount of financing required for the project;
– the term of the loan may not exceed 7 years;
– the applicable interest rate will be determined by the CFC based on the risk profile of the project;
– equity financing is mainly intended for projects where equity is explicitly required, e.g. impact investment funds;
– in the case of equity investments, the CFC usually owns a minority stake only, and never more than 49 % of equity capital.
Project start date: Not Found
Project duration: As above
Eligible organization: As below
Eligibility:
● Eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals are all legal public and private entities that:
– operate in commodity value chains in CFC member countries or provide financial services to micro, small and medium sized businesses operating in these value chains,
– have a proven relevant track record of sound commercial operations in the proposed activities over a period of at least 3 years, which can be documented by means of (audited) financial statements, and
– share CFC’s values, including internationally recognized principles concerning human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption as reflected in the United Nations
Global Compact.
● The amount of finance requested from CFC should not exceed 50% of the total amount required to execute the project. The balancing amount of co-financing is to be provided by the applicant and/or by other co-financiers. Such co-financing should be relative to the new funding requirement for the (investment) project. Sunk cost are not considered a financial contribution.
● A thorough assessment of the co-financing available will form part of CFC’s final due diligence verification.
Submission mail: opencall@common-fund.org
Other important link:
● Call for Proposals (PDF): http://common-fund.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Call_for_Proposals/10th_Call/10th_Call_for_proposals.pdf
● Application form (PDF and Word):
● http://common-fund.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Call_for_Proposals/10th_Call/10th_Call_for_proposals_APPLICATION_FORM.pdf
● http://common-fund.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Call_for_Proposals/10th_Call/10th_Call_for_proposals_APPLICATION_FORM.docx
● Instructions for completing the application form (PDF): http://common-fund.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Call_for_Proposals/10th_Call/Instructions_for_completing_10th_Call_for_Proposals.pdf
● Balance Sheet and Income Statement (Excel): http://common-fund.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Call_for_Proposals/10th_Call/Balance_Sheet__and_Income_Statement.xlsx
● CFC member countries: http://common-fund.org/about-us/members-states/
How to apply:Please submit the completed application form and any supplementary Documents to opencall@common-fund.org or by mail addressed to the Managing Director, Common Fund for Commodities, P.O. Box 74656, 1070 BR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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