Kampani ›

At a glance

Kampani invests in producer organisations and agri SMEs in the Global South. Kampani gives equal weight to the social impact on smallholder farmers and to the financial return on investment.

Investors

The KBF (King Baudouin Foundation) is an independent foundation that strengthens the common good in Belgium and beyond. It supports people and organisations driving positive societal change across key social, environmental, and cultural domains.

The MRBB (Maatschappij voor Roerend Bezit van de Boerenbond) is the investment company of Boerenbond, supporting the long-term development of the Belgian agrifood sector.

The DGD (Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid) is the federal administration responsible for shaping and implementing Belgium’s international development policy.

Investment overview

Amount and instruments

• KBF and MRBB were the early stage investors in 2014. They respectively invested EUR 500,000 and EUR 300,000 of equity.
• KBF invested an additional EUR 500,000 in 2022, MRBB an additional EUR 1 million in 2023.
• DGD financed a first loss tranche (equity) of EUR 900,000 in 2021 with a public grant.
• Kampani itself is also a catalytic investor providing unsecured loans with ticket sizes between EUR 100,000-500,000 with follow-on investment capped at EUR 1 million.

Structure and terms

• Kampani is organised as a holding.
• Minimum investment period is 5 years. 2 shareholders have fully exited so far with 2 more planned in 2026.

Target return and performance

• The return expectation for equity investors is net IRR equal to long term inflation in Belgium.
• The first loss tranche from DGD was financed by a grant, so no financial return expectations.

Impact

• The Impact Measurement & Management improved over time. It is still hard to develop social KPIs that are easily aggregated across the portfolio. For each client, a social business charter is agreed upon, which fixes the impact objectives and sets the reporting obligations.
• Kampani’s clients grow on average 35% each year.

Catalytic role

KBF and MRBB took the first mover risk, investing at ideation phase (early stage) thus playing a seeding role. Without those investments, Kampani would probably not have been launched. These anchor investors added credibility to the initiative. The financial returns are concessional exactly because Kampani focuses on clients that cannot offer commercial returns. Kampani only invests in the agri-food sector, provides only long term and unsecured debt for capital expenditures, mostly in difficult country contexts.

The DGD first loss was also highly catalytic. It is the only answer to systemically improve the risk/return ratio. Kampani is very attractive from an impact point of view, but not from a commercial point of view. The extent to which shareholders are willing to compromise (accept low liquidity, lower return, higher risk in exchange for the impact) varies and is limited. By reducing the downside risk, Kampani was able to fundraise much more easily and accelerate its growth (from EUR 4 to 14 million).

Summary