At the peak of the harvesting season, Charles Kamunde, A gum arabic aggregator, would often face a difficult choice: turn away suppliers or buy small quantities he could barely afford.
“I used to face serious cash flow challenges as an aggregator,” he recalls. “There were times I simply didn’t have enough capital to buy gum from collectors.”
For Charles, who supplies gum arabic to Acacia EPZ, the constraint wasn’t demand — it was liquidity. Without enough working capital during critical buying periods, he could not aggregate consistently. The result was lost income opportunities for both his business and the collectors who depended on him.
This challenge is not unique. Across the gum arabic value chain, limited access to affordable finance has quietly constrained growth. Aggregators, who play a crucial role linking producers to markets, often operate with minimal capital, weakening supply reliability and limiting the income potential of entire communities. When cash is short, households prioritise immediate needs like food, healthcare, and school fees over reinvestment in their livelihoods.