Scaling Climate Insurance and Digital Finance
AFD, Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, Crédit Agricole Assurances, ZEP-RE and ACRE Africa Join Forces for African Agriculture
Montrouge, Nairobi, May 11, 2026 – On the occasion of the Africa Forward Summit Business Forum, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, Crédit Agricole Assurances, ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company) and ACRE Africa announce the signing of a landmark partnership to strengthen agricultural finance in Africa.
This strategic partnership, supported by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, aims to enhance agricultural resilience and improve smallholder farmers’ access to appropriate financial services through innovative solutions combining parametric insurance, digital tools, and credit risk analysis.
In a context where agriculture remains highly exposed to climate risks and underfinanced, this program adopts an innovative, high-leverage approach capable of mobilizing local financial institutions and accelerating access to credit for smallholder farmers.
ZEP-RE and its subsidiary ACRE Africa, key players in the regional insurance and reinsurance market, are partners of choice to ensure the large-scale deployment of solutions tailored to African contexts, in close collaboration with banks, microfinance institutions, and agricultural value chains.
This partnership highlights France’s ability to mobilise cutting-edge expertise in support of agricultural transitions in Africa. This expertise is reflected in the commitment of Crédit Agricole Assurances, which is seconding a project manager through a skills-based philanthropy programme and will mobilise experts for targeted assignments. In this way, an entire ecosystem of companies and innovative stakeholders with recognised expertise in agricultural finance, climate insurance, risk modelling, satellite data and digital solutions will be brought together.
This integrated approach positions French expertise as a catalyst for concrete, scalable, and high-impact solutions, supporting rural resilience and the development of African agricultural markets.
Véronique Faujour, Secretary General of Credit Agricole S.A. and Chief Executive Officer of Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation:
“By combining climate insurance, financing and digital solutions, we empower farmers to sustainably secure their operations. Because there can be no sustainable agricultural financing without sustainable protection: it is by mitigating risk that we make investment possible and lasting.”
Nicolas Denis, Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole Assurances:
“Facing climate and food security challenges, this partnership reflects our determination to take concrete action for high-impact solutions by leveraging our expertise in insurance, risk management and innovation, in support of and for the development of African agricultural value chains.”
Hope Murera, Managing Director & Group CEO, ZEP-RE: “This partnership will enable the large-scale deployment of agricultural insurance solutions across Africa.”
Ewan Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer of ACRE Africa:
“Every year, millions of African farmers face major climate shocks. Through this collaboration, we will expand practical solutions that protect their incomes and secure their access to credit.”
About the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
Founded in 2008 on the joint initiative of Crédit Agricole Group and Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation fights poverty through financial inclusion, primarily targeting women. The Foundation provides long-term support to 80 field partners in 40 countries, helping to finance their development and adaptation needs.
About Crédit Agricole Assurances
Crédit Agricole Assurances, France’s leading insurer, is Crédit Agricole group’s subsidiary, which brings together all the insurance businesses of Crédit Agricole S.A. Crédit Agricole Assurances offers a range of products and services in savings, retirement, health, personal protection and property insurance. They are distributed by Crédit Agricole’s banks in France and in 9 countries worldwide, and are aimed at individual, professional, agricultural and business customers. At the end of 2025, Crédit Agricole Assurances had more than 7,100 employees. Its 2025 premium income (non-GAAP) amounted to 52.4 billion euros.
www.ca-assurances.com
About ZEP-RE
ZEP-RE is a leading pan-African reinsurer and specialised institution of COMESA established in 1990 with a mandate to develop the (re)insurance industry, build capacity, mobilize investments and deepen financial inclusion. It has operations in over 45 African countries with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and eight country/regional offices spread across Sub-Saharan Africa in Côte d’Ivoire, D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. ZEP-RE’s subsidiary ACRE Africa focuses on resilience and credit access for small-holder farmers through technology and insurance with 6 offices across Africa. It is the second best rated African reinsurer on the continent by A.M. Best with a credit rating of B++ (Financial Strength)/bbb+ (Issuer Credit).
About ACRE Africa
Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd. (ACRE Africa), a subsidiary of ZEP-RE PTA Reinsurance is a data- and technology-driven risk management solutions designer that links stakeholders to localized solutions such as insurance and climate change adaptation strategies aimed at reducing agricultural and climate-related risks. Through advanced data and technology systems, ACRE Africa works to de-risk the agricultural value chain. Its solutions are tailored to local contexts, enabling different players to better understand risks across various stages of the farming enterprise. ACRE has physical presence in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe and operations in 17 countries across Africa.
Press Contacts
AFD
Aïssa Kumagangue : kumaganguea@afd.fr
Linnete Amimo: amimol@afd.fr
Grameen Crédit Agricole Fondation
Tristan Gobit: tristan.gobit@credit-agricole-sa.fr
ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company)
Richard Ryaganda: rryaganda@zep-re.com
ACRE Africa
Jean Eyase: jeyase@acreafrica.com