Nouvelle-Aquitaine Funders' club for organic operators

By project SMEOrigin

Published on 19 February 2024

France

Aquitaine

About this good practice

In order to meet consumer demand, operators in the organic sector must structure themselves, plan their development and secure their growth. For this, partnerships must be put in place and investments are necessary.

The Nouvelle-Aquitaine Funders Club of Organic Businesses (including SMEs) is the 1st regional variation of the Funders Club of Agence Bio, at a national level. It was created in 2018 by INTERBIO Nouvelle-Aquitaine and brings together 26 public and private financiers.

The objectives of the Funders Club are:
-To bring together stakeholders in the financing of organic agriculture in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
-To support and optimize regional organic agri-food investors
- To identify a single, harmonized entry point for INTERBIO NA members (SMEs, organic operators, etc...)
-To attract investors and project leaders in Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Nouvelle-Aquitaine funders' Club contributes in:
- Structuring and revitalizing the regional organic sector;
-Supporting the creation of tools to promote organic production of the territory;
-Financing various organic projects: development, investment, innovation.

All operators operators and project leaders located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, or wishing to come and settle on the territory, can benefit from this service.

Resources needed

One project officer is in charge of the animation of the Funders' club.
On project leaders/ SMEs' side, a dedicated project leader space is available online to submit a project. On the funders' side, a meeting with all the members takes place once a year and projects are sent to them along the way.

Evidence of success

To this date:
-63 projects have been submitted to the Funders of INTERBIO NA Funders' Club;
-representing 46 millions € of eligible expenses;
-for a total subsidized amount of 15 millions €.

Potential for learning or transfer

How can food SMEs can access capital and financial resources to increase their production or enter new markets (e.g. through equity, bank loans, subsidies, state aid, regional/local grants, other type of finance) is a capital aspect.
To be able to gather different type of funders, private (general banks, specialized banks, crowdfunding organisms, private investors) and public (Regional council, State, Water agencies, etc...) enables to centralize the procedures for the SMEs, and get a quick access to different proposals.