Part 9 of 9 · Execute
Why Applications Fail, What Is Negotiable, and Your Ninety-Day Plan
Ten failures that account for the large majority of declines, the term-sheet provisions that matter more than the interest rate, and the sequence that produces the fastest credible application.
Part 9 of 9100% through the guide
Section 3.5Why applications fail
Each of the ten below is fixable before submission.
| The failure | The fix |
|---|---|
| Wrong institution for the size or stage | Confirm minimum and maximum ticket size and target stage before writing anything |
| No owner contribution | Show 10% to 30% of project cost from equity, land, existing assets or retained earnings |
| Projections disconnected from history | Reconcile year one to last year’s actuals and explain every step change |
| No verifiable market for the output | Obtain a signed offtake agreement or documented sales history before applying |
| Missing or expired compliance documents | Assemble the legal pack first; renew tax clearance and licences early |
| No treatment of climate and price risk | Include a risk register and a downside case in the model, with stated mitigations |
| Facility structure mismatched to the need | Match tenor and repayment to the asset life and the harvest calendar |
| Founder-dependent operation | Show a second manager, an agronomist, a bookkeeper — evidence the business survives you |
| Slow or incomplete responses during assessment | Assign one person to the application and respond within 48 hours |
| Unrealistic valuation or terms expectations | Benchmark against comparable local transactions before naming a number |
Section 3.6Pricing and terms: what is negotiable
Most first-time borrowers accept the first term sheet as issued. Several of its provisions are more negotiable than the interest rate, and matter more to your survival.
- Repayment timing. Almost always negotiable, and the most valuable concession you can win. A moratorium through the growing season and repayment aligned to harvest can be the difference between comfortable service and default.
- Security composition. Where a guarantee scheme applies, the collateral required should fall. Push back on requests for both a full guarantee and full physical security.
- Personal guarantees. Frequently demanded, sometimes reducible in scope or capped in amount, particularly where corporate security is strong.
- Fees. Arrangement, commitment, valuation, legal and insurance fees can add several percentage points to the effective cost. Ask for the all-in cost in writing, not the headline rate.
- Covenants and reporting. Negotiate frequency and thresholds you can genuinely meet. A covenant you breach in month four is worse than a tighter facility you comply with.
- Drawdown schedule. Align tranches to your actual spending calendar. Drawing the full amount on day one means paying interest on money sitting idle.
- Insurance provider. Where the lender requires cover, you can often shop the policy rather than accept the bundled product.
Section 3.7Your ninety-day funding plan
If you are starting from a standing position, this is the sequence that produces the fastest credible application.
The point of the sequence is parallelism — four live applications rather than one sequential process.
| Period | What you do | What you should have |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–15 Foundation |
Register or update the company; apply for tax clearance; open or formalise the business bank account; gather land documentation; assemble three years of whatever financial records exist | A complete legal and compliance file, and a clear picture of what is missing |
| Days 16–30 Evidence |
Build the use-of-proceeds table with real supplier quotes; compile yield and sales history; convert your strongest buyer relationship into a written offtake agreement or letter of intent; build the farmer or supplier register | A commercial evidence pack that distinguishes you from most applicants |
| Days 31–50 The numbers |
Build a monthly financial model for three years; reconcile year one to actuals; add the facility, calculate DSCR, run three sensitivities; write the business plan around the model, not before it | A model that survives its own downside case and a plan that reconciles to it |
| Days 51–65 Targeting |
Shortlist eight institutions across at least three categories; email each to confirm ticket size, eligibility and current windows; ask every one which guarantee or blended facility applies; narrow to four | Four qualified targets and confirmed submission requirements for each |
| Days 66–80 Submission |
Tailor the one-page summary to each institution’s stated priorities; submit all four in parallel; log every contact, requirement and deadline in one tracker | Four live applications rather than one sequential process |
| Days 81–90 Management |
Respond to every query within 48 hours; request specific reasons on any decline; begin the follow-up cycle; keep progressing value chain finance in parallel so the business is not waiting | Live processes, documented decline reasons, and a working capital plan that does not depend on approval |
ClosingA closing word
The financing gap in African agriculture is not primarily a shortage of capital.
There is more money formally committed to African food systems now than at any point in the last two decades — in national schemes, guarantee facilities, blended finance programmes, impact funds and value chain arrangements. What is missing is the connective tissue: bankable enterprises on one side, and on the other, entrepreneurs who know which door to knock on and what to carry when they do.
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