As conversations across Africa increasingly focus on financing agriculture, Swisscontact is calling for equal attention to a critical yet often overlooked component of agricultural transformation: human capital.
Speaking at the Financing Agri-food Systems Sustainably in Africa (FINAS 2026) Conference in Nairobi, Swisscontact Kenya Country Director Sharon Mosin challenged stakeholders to look beyond finance as the primary driver of agricultural growth and instead focus on the capabilities, systems, and partnerships that enable investment to deliver lasting impact.
Addressing policymakers, financial institutions, private sector leaders, development partners, and youth representatives, Mosin argued that Africa’s agricultural transformation rests on three interconnected pillars: Skills, Systems and Capital. Removing any one of these pillars weakens the entire ecosystem.
“For years, we have focused on increasing finance for agriculture. These conversations are necessary. But perhaps we have overlooked the most important investment of all: investment in people,” said Mosin. “Agriculture cannot transform without skilled people to drive it.
Mosin highlighted a growing paradox across Africa’s agri-food systems: employers struggle to find skilled workers, graduates struggle to find jobs, financial institutions struggle to identify investment-ready businesses, and young entrepreneurs struggle to access finance. According to Swisscontact, these challenges are not isolated problems, but symptoms of disconnected systems linking education, enterprise, and finance.
She stressed that agriculture has evolved into a sophisticated knowledge industry encompassing logistics, data science, biotechnology, food processing, renewable energy, climate adaptation, digital finance, and entrepreneurship. Yet many training systems continue preparing young people for the agriculture of the past rather than the opportunities of the future.
Drawing on Swisscontact’s market systems development approach, Mosin emphasized that skills should not be viewed merely as a social investment but as economic infrastructure.
“Capital follows confidence. Confidence follows capability. Capability comes from skills,” she noted, adding that every skilled entrepreneur reduces investment risk, while every competent technician improves productivity and competitiveness.
The keynote also highlighted the importance of employer-led skills development, apprenticeships, stronger industry partnerships, and closer collaboration between governments, training institutions, businesses, and development partners. Such collaboration is essential for creating integrated systems that connect learning to earning and support long-term market development.
As climate change continues to reshape agriculture, Mosin underscored the growing demand for competencies in regenerative agriculture, carbon markets, nature-based enterprises, climate adaptation, renewable energy, and circular economy approaches
Swisscontact’s participation at FINAS 2026 also reflected these themes through discussions on youth employment, enterprise competitiveness, and financing nature-based, climate-smart agriculture enterprises. Across these engagements, a common message emerged: sustainable agricultural transformation depends not only on mobilising capital but on strengthening the capabilities, incentives, and market systems that allow individuals and enterprises to use that capital productively.
“The future of African agriculture will not be determined by how much land we cultivate,” Mosin concluded. “It will be determined by how many capable young people we cultivate.”
About Swisscontact:
Swisscontact is a Swiss non-profit founded in 1959 by Switzerland’s private sector and academia. Our mission: to unleash the potential of private initiative for sustainable development and shared prosperity. In Kenya, we’ve been at it for 28 years; working across youth skills, digital transformation, climate action, public health, and SME development.
About FINAS
FINAS (Financing Agri-Food Systems Sustainably) is a leading pan-African platform and summit dedicated to advancing sustainable financing for Africa’s agricultural sector. The forum convenes more than 1,000 stakeholders— including policymakers, financial institutions, agribusiness leaders, and smallholder farmers—to address the significant financing gap that continues to limit agricultural growth, productivity, and food security across the continent.
