Fairtrade Access Fund (IFC-52175)

Regions
  • Latin America and Caribbean
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Oct 9, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
IDB borrowing countries
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Fund
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 22.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 22.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Oct 24, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Sep 8, 2026

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the IFC, the project consists of an IFC investment in Fairtrade Access Fund (“FAF”), an open-ended Luxembourg-domiciled impact fund that provides trade finance, working capital, and longer-term loans to Fairtrade and other sustainability-certified smallholder producer organizations (“SPOs”), agricultural enterprises, cooperatives, organizations and other hired labour organizations (“HLOs”) that are engaged in the value chain of agricultural products involving smallholders in their supply or production processes (altogether, “Agro Enterprises”) operating across Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, as well as to agri-focused microfinancing institutions (“MFIs”). The Fund’s objective is to address persistent financing constraints faced by underserved actors in agricultural value chains and to support more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agricultural production systems.

FAF finances Agro Enterprises that aggregate, process, and market certified agricultural products, thereby facilitating access by smallholder farmers to higher-value domestic and export markets. Through its lending activities, the Fund supports improved market access, improved livelihoods, and increased resilience among smallholder farmers and rural enterprises. The proposed transaction is expected to support FAF’s transition to a more scalable and diversified capital structure and enable continued portfolio growth.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

According to the IFC, FAF, as a self-managed fund, is advised by Incofin Investment Management (“Incofin”), a Belgium-based impact investment manager with longstanding experience in financial inclusion and agricultural finance. Incofin was founded in 1992 and manages approximately US$1.1 billion in assets under management across multiple impact investment strategies. Since inception, Incofin has deployed approximately US$5 billion through its investment platforms. Incofin is majority owned by its employees


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

For Inquiries About the Project, Contact

Noémie Renier

Fairtrade Access Fund S.A., SICAV-SIF

2 rue d Alsace

Luxembourg L-1122

noemie.renier@incofin.com

Luxembourg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works