Avison is a South African fertiliser producer with production capacity of 36,000 tonnes. It manufactures pelletised chicken manure fertiliser as well as integrated fertiliser (a.k.a. IPNM which is a combination of chicken manure and chemical fertiliser). It is the largest producer of integrated fertiliser in South Africa and distributes across multiple regions in the country.
The precursor company, FMO, was a division of a multi-billion rand agronomic services conglomerate. The parent company was restructuring and not focusing on Avison as it was considered a non-core business. The company therefore lacked working capital to develop its business.
The AAF SME Fund has committed $4.2m to Avison since April 2014. The Fund’s approach was to create a much larger company with critical mass across the country. The Fund therefore