The loan will enable the Wagagai farm, recently acquired by Selecta one, to develop its business and maintain its role as a hub for social initiatives.
Germany’s DEG has agreed to make a long-term €16.5m loan to Stuttgart-based horticultural business Selecta one to support expansion of a Ugandan flower grower, acquired earlier this year.
Family-owned Selecta one announced its acquisition of Ugandan farm Wagagai, one of its long-time suppliers, in July.
Selecta one is a large grower of bedding and container plants, perennials, grasses and cut flowers serving the spectrum of customers from large international firms to local garden centres. It operates at 13 sites in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, employing 5,000 people worldwide.
DEG, which is part of Germany’s KfW development finance institution, said its financing would help fund the acquisition and modernisation of the Wagagai farm in southern Uganda, which mainly produces begonias, chrysanthemums and poinsettias, but is expanding into other areas of horticulture.
“DEG is maintaining a decades-long partnership with Selecta one and Wagagai. Our recent financing provides scope for further growth to a family-run German company that stands for innovation and social responsibility. It also safeguards the existence of the Wagagai farm, which provides over 2,000 jobs,” Roland Siller, DEG’s CEO, said.
Women make up the majority of Wagagai’s workforce, which earns above-average pay and receives additional benefits. The farm is a hub for social initiatives, including an on-site health centre funded by DEG, which was founded in 2002, plus educational and community work programmes.
The health centre originally catered to Wagagai staff and their relatives, but has now expanded to cater to the local region, with services including surgery and delivering babies. Attracting around 40,000 visits a year, it employs 50 people, including a full-time doctor and four midwives, as well as clinical officers, nurses and laboratory technicians. Wagagai also operates a fund to support those in need of healthcare but with inadequate financial means to pay for it.
DEG said the social initiatives at Wagagai could provide an example for the further development at Selecta one sites in Kenya and Colombia.
The institution already backs Selecta one operations in Kenya, where it provides both finance and advisory services. Further to an equity loan to support production expansion there in 2014, the institution has also backed business support services, such as health advice for female employees and a feasibility study on transitioning operations to solar energy.
In 2024, DEG provided a total of €620m in support for German companies in developing and emerging-market countries, of which €544m came from its own funds. The institution also provided a further €74m via its ImpactConnect programme for smaller investment projects of German and European companies, using funds from BMZ, another German development institution.
Other recent DEG activities in East Africa include provision of a $50m (€43m) long-term loan to Tanzania’s Cooperative Rural Development Bank (CRBD), announced in August, which will provide funding for small businesses, including those owned by women and young adults.
