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Women represent more than half of IFAD project participants, while more than 60 percent of its active project portfolio is youth-oriented, reaching more than 12 million young people worldwide. Photo: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
– The global aid system is crumbling amid chronic underinvestment in rural areas, posing a systemic threat to food systems everywhere.
With 1.3 billion young people in the world today – the largest generation in history, and almost half of them living in rural areas – investing in their entrepreneurial potential is key.
Speaking during a press conference held on February 10, 2026 at the 49th Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the President, Álvaro Lario, said that investing in young entrepreneurs and women farmers opens new avenues for employment and ensures that rural areas become prosperous engines of stability, prosperity and sustainable growth.
The overarching theme of the current Governing Council session is “Farm to Market: Investing with Young Entrepreneurs” and takes place at a crucial time when the global aid system is in urgent need of reinvention.
“We are in a very complex moment of geopolitical fragmentation and limited budgets for many countries. Food systems are going through several periodic crises that include climate crises. Therefore, rural transformation means economic growth, job creation and building stability,” Lario stated.
Lario advocated for public-private partnerships that connect farmers with private companies, which invest directly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through blended financing, guarantees and various forms of debt or equity, ultimately increasing access to rural finance. Public finance alone cannot transform food systems, increase rural incomes or create decent jobs.
The president of IFAD, Álvaro Lario, with Tony Elumelu, president of the UBA, and Heirs Holdings and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Credit: IFAD/Hannah Kathryn Valles
SME-driven value chains are essential for rural development. IFAD evaluations show that SME-focused value chain projects are more likely to deliver transformative impacts; In other words, when revenue increases by more than 50 percent due to the project. The Rwanda Rural Income through Exports (PRICE) Project increased returns for farmers by developing export-driven value chains for the cultivation of coffee, tea, silk and horticulture.
In summary, he said the private sector accounts for more than 90 percent of global food systems activity and critically complements public sector financing by providing technology, market access and logistics. Highlighting that these are the elements that allow small farms, shepherds, fishermen, rural entrepreneurs and other agri-food businesses to grow and prosper.
Overall, at the Governing Council, Lario underscored the immense strategic and business value of investing in rural economies, presented new impact data and priorities for 2028-2030, and outlined the most effective models for scaling up productive investments. He was joined by Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa and Heirs Holdings, and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, to outline a new deal for rural economies.
They spoke at length about how to accelerate change to channel more private investment into rural economies. On young African entrepreneurs and facilitating their access to finance, he said that as currently constituted, a bank cannot lend without collateral and without consideration of social repayment.
“Since the regulatory environment does not allow banks to lend without taking these issues into account, countries create development finance institutions that can take on some of the risks. And then they have development finance and global finance institutions that help de-risk transactions so that banks can come in and provide the capital,” Elumelu said.
“One of the reasons my wife and I created the Tony Elumelu Foundation is to support young African entrepreneurs. Access to capital is critical for business development. But often, people lack what it takes to access it. The Foundation has provided $100 million. And each year, we identify young African entrepreneurs who have business ideas and train them on how to put them into practice.”
Furthermore, he emphasizes that access to capital, “while important, is not the only condition that will make you successful. Entrepreneurial education is important. That is why we train them, appoint mentors for them, create a networking platform for them and then provide them with the knowledge they need to receive capital. To date, in Africa, we have funded more than 24,000 young African entrepreneurs. And the good news is that about half of these people are women.”
Elumelu said youth-focused interventions significantly boost agrientrepreneurship as a key driver for economic growth, job creation and stability, while addressing the opportunity deficit for youth.
“Almost 21 percent of those receiving funding in Africa are engaged in agriculture and agribusiness. And of that 21 percent, which is about 5,600 beneficiaries, 55 percent are women. So in a way, we are trying to help close that capital gap, that financial gap. But that is not enough. It is just a small drop of water in the ocean. So we need even more partnerships.”
Elumelu further drew on his philosophy of Africapitalism, which is a call to action for companies to go beyond the pursuit of short-term profits and instead make investments that generate socio-economic benefits for the communities in which they operate. And his foundation’s decade-long experience in building Africa’s largest entrepreneurial ecosystem speaks to how entrepreneurship, private capital and market-driven solutions can transform rural economies, expand food systems and close the opportunity gap for youth.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a dedicated United Nations agency that invests in rural communities, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. So far it has provided more than $25 billion in grants and low-interest loans to finance projects in developing countries.
The Governing Council is IFAD’s highest decision-making body and, among other things, provides a forum for governors to share their ideas on priority areas for strategic action to improve the livelihoods of rural people.
This session also takes place at the beginning of the International Year of the Peasant Woman, declared in recognition of the key role that women farmers around the world play in agri-food systems and their contributions to food security, nutrition and poverty eradication.
Empowering youth and women entrepreneurs to start and expand agribusinesses serves as a vital catalyst for economic development and creates lasting positive impacts. Women represent more than half of IFAD project participants, while more than 60 percent of the active project portfolio is youth-sensitive, reaching more than 12 million young people worldwide.
IPS UN Office Report
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