For Aggregators, Traders and Light Processors

Funding for aggregation and light processing.

Working capital for South African agribusinesses that buy from growers, grade, pack or lightly process before produce reaches the buyer. Sized to your buying cycle, not to one harvest.

NCR

NCR Registered

NCRCP18413

Rapid Access

48h decision · 5-day disbursement

Back to Farmers & Agribusinesses

We fund established operators, not pre-revenue. South African farms and agribusinesses trading 3+ years with R85k+ monthly revenue – farming (excl. grains and maize), produce aggregation, light processing.

Up to R5m

Amount

48 hours

Decision time

~5 days

Funds paid

Daily, weekly
or monthly

Repayment

Eligibility In Practice

What counts as aggregation and light processing

If your business sits anywhere in this picture, it is fundable – you don't have to be a pure grower to qualify as an agribusiness with us.

Buying from other growers

You buy produce from neighbouring or contracted farms and sell it on to a retailer, market agent, processor or exporter. Your own hectares might be a small part of the volume – or none of it.

Grading, sorting and packing

Produce arrives loose and leaves in the buyer's format: graded, punneted, bagged, labelled and palletised. The packhouse cost sits between you and getting paid.

Light processing

Washing, trimming, cutting, drying, freezing or similar preparation before produce goes to a buyer. Real value is added, but you're not running a full manufacturing plant.

Mixed growing and buying

You farm and you aggregate. Most operations we fund do both, in different proportions each season – and one facility can cover both sides of it.

How The Advance Is Sized

Sized to your buying cycle, not a single harvest

A grower's cash cycle runs on the season. Yours runs on how fast you can buy, pack and get paid – sometimes several times a quarter. We size the advance to that.

1

We start with the cycle, not the year

How long from paying a grower on collection to money landing from your buyer? Two weeks for a market agent, six or more for a retailer on terms. That window is what we're funding.

2

We add the cost of getting it buyer-ready

Grower payments, packaging, grading labour, cold chain and transport all sit inside the same cycle. We size the advance to the whole landed cost, not just what you pay the farm.

3

We repay on your rhythm

If you run several buying cycles a quarter, repayments follow that rhythm – weekly usually fits better than a daily debit order. Terms up to 9 months, facilities up to R5 million.

In Practice

Three situations we fund

The programme runs longer than your own crop

Your retail listing runs year-round; your farm supplies four months of it. For the rest you buy from growers around you. We fund the buying so the shelf never goes empty and you keep the programme for next season.

Volume triples for a six-week window

An exporter or chain asks for a step-change in volume. You need to pay twenty growers on collection and buy packaging up front, and settlement only arrives well after the last pallet ships. We fund the run-up, not the aftermath.

Growers want cash, the buyer pays on terms

Your suppliers are small farms that can't wait 45 days, so you pay on collection. Your buyer pays on their own cycle. We fund the difference, so you're not choosing between losing suppliers and starving your own cash flow.

Who We Fund

The operations we actually fund

Horticulture and fruit & vegetable growers

Aggregators and traders

Light processors and packhouses

Agri-input suppliers

Agri-logistics operators

We don't fund grain or maize production, or primary livestock farming. This is working capital for the operating cycle – not capex, and not land.

Eligibility

Does your operation qualify?

A quick self-check before the conversation. Five simple criteria, built around how an established aggregator, trader or light processor actually runs.

I buy, aggregate, pack or lightly process agricultural produce

My business is registered with CIPC

I am a director of the business

My business has been trading for at least 3 years

My monthly average turnover is at least R85,000

South African crop field at planting – Pumpkn working capital for farmers and agribusinesses
FAQ

Questions aggregators and processors actually ask

No. Aggregators and traders who don't grow anything themselves are a core part of what we fund. What we're assessing is the operation: how reliably you buy, what you do to the produce before it moves on, and who pays you at the end of it. You do still need to be CIPC-registered, trading three years or more, with at least R85,000 a month coming through and five or more full-time staff.

Bank statements tell us most of it. Regular outgoing payments to a stable set of growers, matched by incoming settlements from a retailer, market agent or exporter, is a clearer picture of a working operation than a balance sheet full of assets. Bring six months of business bank statements (twelve for anything over R500,000), your CIPC document and director ID, and any supply or offtake paperwork you have with your buyer.

Washing, trimming, cutting, drying, packing and similar preparation of produce is light processing, and it sits on this page. A full manufacturing operation that turns raw inputs into a branded retail product – a sauce, a juice, a snack line – is a food manufacturer, assessed on slightly different criteria (one year of trading rather than three). If that's closer to you, start on the Food Manufacturers page instead.

No. Grain and maize, and primary livestock, sit outside what we fund – whether you're producing them or trading them. Horticulture, fruit and vegetables are where we're strongest, along with the packhouses, input suppliers and agri-logistics operators around them.

Preliminary decision within 48 hours of a complete application, and full disbursement within 5 business days of complete documentation. If growers are harvesting in ten days, say so at the start of the conversation and we'll work backwards from that date rather than promising something we can't deliver.

Ready to fund the next buying cycle?

Start the conversation. Preliminary decision inside 48 hours, with reasons either way.