The United Kingdom government is funding a new programme aimed at broadening access to capital for small, growing Mozambican businesses — particularly those that cannot yet secure conventional bank credit or attract traditional investors.
Called Resilience, Adaptation and Innovation (RAIZ), the initiative is led by FSD Africa and funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The programme seeks to develop the financing market for early-stage small businesses, demonstrating that these enterprises are not necessarily too new or too risky to attract investment.
According to FSD Africa, many of these businesses occupy an awkward middle ground: they are too large to rely solely on microcredit, yet lack the scale, collateral, or track record required to access bank financing or equity investment.
In Mozambique, many such firms operate in agricultural aggregation, linking producers to markets, and processing food into higher-value products. Despite their potential, they face persistent difficulties in accessing financial instruments suited to their business cycles — particularly in the agricultural sector, where returns tend to take longer to materialise and assets available as collateral are typically limited.
RAIZ will focus on climate-resilient agriculture, food systems, the blue economy, and renewable energy.
Within these sectors, the programme aims to support businesses with the potential to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, and strengthen climate resilience. To achieve this, it will work with capital providers that have knowledge of the Mozambican market, support the development of new financial instruments, and seek to mobilise local, regional, and international investment into a segment that remains underserved. Planned mechanisms include patient capital, quasi-equity instruments, recoverable seed financing, and loans linked to the impact achieved by supported projects.
The initiative also foresees early partnerships with a local fund focused on early-stage enterprises, an impact-based financing mechanism, an angel investment platform, and a revolving loan fund for innovation. The objective is to create a continuous financing pathway — from initial business validation through to angel investors, seed capital, debt, hybrid financing, and long-term equity stakes.
FSD Africa argues that the difficulties faced by these businesses do not necessarily stem from a lack of ambition or commercial opportunity, but from a shortage of financial instruments suited to their needs. To demonstrate the viability of this segment, RAIZ intends to support concrete transactions, build repayment track records, and strengthen the capacity of local institutions to assess and finance growing small businesses. The programme is also expected to complement other government initiatives by reaching early-stage businesses that typically fall outside the scope of credit lines offered by the banking sector.
FSD Africa contends that Mozambique's economic growth will depend not only on large enterprises but also on the expansion of small businesses that form part of production, processing, and commercialisation supply chains. While acknowledging that RAIZ alone will not close the existing financing gap, the organisation hopes to demonstrate that these businesses — and the investors who back them — can represent viable investment opportunities.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/08/03/negocios/empresas/reino-unido-apoia-novo-modelo-de-financiamento-para-empresas-mocambicanas/
