AKFED Companies
In Nairobi, Kenya, workers at the Premier Food Industries (PFI) juice plant control for proper packaging. PFI is an AKFED project company.
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
Read moreAKFED Companies
In Nairobi, Kenya, workers at the Premier Food Industries (PFI) juice plant control for proper packaging. …
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
Read morePamir Energy and the future of clean electricity in Central Asia
Since 2002, Pamir Energy has restored 11 micro hydro power plants and upgraded 4,300 km of transmission lines, including the Khorog 1 Hydro Power Plant, in Khorog, Tajikistan, pictured here.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
Read morePamir Energy and the future of clean electricity in Central Asia
Since 2002, Pamir Energy has restored 11 micro hydro power plants and upgraded 4,300 km of transmission …
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
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This page is also available inAKDN | Industrial Development
AKDN encourages entrepreneurial activity and the growth of the private sector as part of efforts to create a critical mass of development activity that eventually gathers its own momentum. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) makes bold but calculated investments in parts of the developing world that often lack sufficient direct investment.
AKFED’s aim is to create ethically run, self-sustaining companies that generate private-sector employment, provide essential goods and services, and contribute to the overall development of the nation. These companies often work in conjunction with AKDN’s non-profit social investments in health or education.
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AKFED has invested in, and manages, over 30 industrial project companies in Africa and Asia.
55,000
AKFED’s project companies employ over 55,000 people.
123,000
AKFED’s companies work with over 123,000 farmers, including employees, suppliers, trainees and borrowers.
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AKFED has invested in, and manages, over 30 industrial project companies in Africa and Asia.
Pamir Energy wins prestigious Ashden Award for bringing clean energy to East Tajikistan and North Afghanistan
Pamir Energy won the award for bringing hydropower to over 250,000 people, plus businesses, schools, and health centres.
55,000
AKFED’s project companies employ over 55,000 people.
Engaging Kenyan small scale farmers in the value chain
By processing throughout the year, Frigoken provides a steady income to farmers, most of whom have plots less than two acres.
123,000
AKFED’s companies work with over 123,000 farmers, including employees, suppliers, trainees and borrowers.
Trout farming in Pakistan
With trout farmers in Gilgit-Baltistan struggling to sell their produce, AKDN established a processing facility to increase the shelf life of the fish.
His Highness the Aga Khan
Athi River, December 2003
Our Work
Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, AKDN’s investments focused on providing goods and services that Africa lacked.
The first such group of project companies was set up in the 1960s under the corporate name Industrial Promotion Services (IPS). In sub-Saharan Africa, AKDN’s investments focused on providing goods and services that Africa lacked. Often supplying both local and export markets, these have included packaging for exports, fish nets for Lake Victoria fishermen and agro-processing.
The companies have played a significant role in supporting rural economies. In West Africa, for example, through IPS, AKDN supplies agricultural extension services to more than 100,000 cotton farmers, operates cotton ginneries and exports finished products. Social programmes offer microfinance, education, health and sanitation to the farmers and their communities.
Central Asia
In the 1990s and early in the new millennium, we made new investments in the emerging economies of Central Asia.
In the 1990s and early in the new millennium, we made new investments in the emerging economies of Central Asia. These include Pamir Energy, which provides electricity from renewable energy in remote parts of Tajikistan, and mobile phone and fibreoptic data service companies in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Find out more about AKFED’s work in power generation and telecommunications.
Where We Work
Industrial Development