The positive impact of strategic partnerships

Rikolto and SCOPEinsight have a strategic partnership, forged over years of working together. As the next step in this partnership, Rikolto and SCOPEinsight have agreed on a single-sourcing contract for the next five years.

Rikolto: A leader in agribusiness support services

Rikolto is an international network NGO with more than forty years of experience in partnering with agribusinesses and food chain stakeholders. They work with over two hundred agribusinesses across seventeen countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Rikolto works for a sustainable income for farmers, and nutritious, affordable food for everyone. The organization uses a food systems approach in their work to make sure that it will benefit all stakeholders in the system. They also work with a firm exit strategy in mind, so the benefits for their agribusinesses continue beyond the end of the project.

The partnership between Rikolto and SCOPEinsight

SCOPEinsight and Rikolto have a partnership based on a strong alignment between their approaches and goals. They have been working together since 2016. In that time, they have collaborated on projects in a dozen different countries across three continents.

In 2021, Rikolto b.v., their social limited liability enterprise, became a member of SCOPEinsight’s Local Expert Network (LEN). The LEN combines SCOPEinsight’s global standards with local expertise, and Rikolto’s regional teams make them a perfect partner in this endeavor.

Current work by Rikolto and SCOPEinsight

Rikolto uses SCOPE assessments to determine the level of professionalism of the agribusinesses they work with. This allows them to tailor their capacity building to sustainably improve productivity while ensuring food quality and safety. Developing strong business skills as an agribusiness is key to becoming a reliable business partner.

For example, in a collaboration with Subway and Nicaraguan farmer organisations , Rikolto used the results from their baseline SCOPE assessments to determine where the agribusinesses needed the most support. After providing this support, the agribusinesses scored much higher on reassessment.

Rikolto also uses reassessment data to track improvements in their agribusinesses. This allows them to prove that their training had an impact and shows that the agribusiness became more professional. For example, Rikolto used the results from the reassessments of the Nicaraguan cooperative COOSEMPODA to leverage an impact investment for the cooperative from the Belgian investment fund Kampani. By showing Kampani the increase in SCOPE scores, Rikolto could prove that COOSEMPODA was ready for a loan. And thanks to this loan, COOSEMPODA has been able to grow significantly in the past few years.

Future opportunities for the partnership

Rikolto currently uses SCOPE assessments in their projects. The single-sourcing agreement will lead to further cooperation between Rikolto and SCOPEinsight in the next five years. One upcoming project will involve increased opportunities for access to finance for cooperatives in Uganda. In a recent project, Rikolto worked with SCOPEinsight and a consortium of other actors, including the Ugandan Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, to scope over 200 cooperatives with the SCOPE Rapid tool.

After the initial scoping was finished, Rikolto took the preliminary information and used it to segment the cooperatives for further assessments, which they carried out. The next step is to map the assessment data to the bankability metrics. This will help the assessed cooperatives to communicate more easily with financial institutions and increase their access to finance. This project will also pilot the upcoming SCOPE Portal, which will be a place for agribusinesses seeking a loan to share their information and for financial institutions seeking additions to their agricultural portfolio to find the appropriate agribusinesses.

The strength of a strategic partnership

SCOPEinsight and Rikolto have a deeply aligned vision for the professionalization of agribusinesses. Rikolto understands the value of SCOPEinsight’s tools and data, and SCOPEinsight appreciates Rikolto’s integrated approach towards agribusiness professionalism. Together, Rikolto and SCOPEinsight can have a positive impact on agribusinesses worldwide.

Are you interested in professionalizing agribusinesses? Contact us today to see how we can work together.

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