Work · Kaleidofin
Making smallholder loans investable: Kenya's first private-sector agricultural securitisation
KES 276M raised in May 2026 at a BBB- rating, in Kenya's first private-sector, local-currency agricultural securitisation. Repeat deals followed within six months on the same engine.
Context
Apollo Agriculture finances seeds and inputs for smallholder farmers in Kenya. Its loan book was healthy, but local investors couldn’t see inside it or size the risk, so local-currency capital stayed out. Kenya had never had a private-sector, local-currency securitisation. The real problem was a trust deficit between originators and investors.
The hard call
I chose to build ki catalyst as a reusable product before the first deal, rather than as one-off analytics for Apollo. The first close took longer: six months of discovery and five months of build. Every later deal now runs on the same engine, which is why repeat deals followed within six months.
What I did
- Ran six months of discovery workshops with investors and originators to learn what investors needed to see before funding an informal-sector book.
- Extended ki monitor’s loan-level risk layer into ki catalyst, so one dataset drives underwriting, structuring and monitoring.
- Used ki score to select and grade the pool on loan-level risk rather than headline averages.
- Estimated PD, LGD and ECL from Apollo’s own recoveries and vintages, then sized credit cover and pricing from them.
- Reconciled collections against M-Pesa and bank records, with covenants tracked as compliant, watch or breach on one dashboard.
- Held each deal in a ring-fenced cell of a protected cell company in Mauritius, so the structure repeats.
My role
I led product for ki catalyst and ki score, the platforms behind pool selection, structuring analytics and post-close monitoring. The deal was closed by Kaleidofin with Apollo Agriculture and the IDH Farmfit Fund.
Results
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| First close | May 2026 · KES 276M · BBB- |
| Farmers funded, phase 1 | 23,839 |
| Programme | KES 2.37B · 130,000+ farmers |
| Repeat deals | Closed within 6 months on the same engine, with a pipeline three times the size of what has closed |
What I take from it
Where capital is scarce, the product is trust. Answer the investor's questions once, and every later deal gets cheaper.
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