Cooperative Bank of Oromia (Coopbank) is a private commercial bank in Ethiopia that began operations in March 2005 from its headquarters in Addis Ababa’s Africa Avenue Flamingo area.​ Coopbank has a broad ownership base and diversified ownership structure. It comprises cooperatives and non-cooperative members. Cooperative members include primary cooperatives, cooperative unions and the cooperatives federation, whereas non-cooperative members include organisations, associations and individuals. A majority of the bank’s shareholders belong to the farmer-owned cooperatives in Ethiopia, and currently there are 5,212 cooperatives making about 67% of the bank’s paid-up capital.

Coopbank is now one of the most profitable banks in Ethiopia with a total asset value of more than ETB 139.56 billion. It has a 750+ branch network, more than 13.2 million account holders, and more than 15,481 employees. However, their sector expertise is limited to being strong in selected commodities (not including oilseeds).​ 

Though Coopbank sees developing business in the oilseeds sector as a key priority, they do not have sector knowledge and expertise and have been forced to hold back on investing in this sector. They have given more attention to other crops, especially coffee, for many years. This project partnership provided an opportunity for Coopbank to quickly engage in the sector with full understanding and with an inclusive growth business model with farmer cooperative unions (FCUs) and agri-SMEs. 

Contact: Mr Geremachew Kefayalew (photo) Email

Building Capacity of Coop Bank of Oromia to Improve BDS Service Delivery and Access to Financing for Cooperatives and Agri-SMEs in the Oilseeds Sector

This project demonstrated that with some technical support an established bank can turn its attention to a new sector, thus unlocking much needed financial flows into the value chain actors.

The objective of this partnership was to build business development services (BDS) support, particularly for smallholders, coops and agri-SMEs, through strengthening the efforts of Coop Bank of Oromia by developing business partnerships in the oilseeds sector with a focus on the soybean supply chain. As a result of this partnership, Coopbank has begun implementing its plan to expand its FCU loan portfolio by 27.5%, enabling the cooperatives and agri-SMEs to be able to support 7,750 smallholders in the oilseeds supply chain (with 30% women) within coop membership via their contract farming arrangements.

Coopbank is providing input financing and market infrastructure development for FCUs. The bank has also digitalised business operations through MasterCard’s partnership support. The Farm Pass platform seamlessly connects farmers, aggregators, buyers, agricultural input/service providers, financial institutions, and other service providers for efficient business operations. The bank has already been working with Jimma and Limu Inara unions in the coffee sector. This digital application is being introduced to other cooperative unions (e.g., Buno Bedelle and Illu Harar) and agri-SMEs who are involved in the oilseeds supply chain. In addition, Coopbank plans to allocate credit finance up to £2.6 million (£2 million to FCUs and £600,000 million to agri-SMEs) for input procurement (e.g., inoculant and seeds), product aggregation and capital investment, which is being accompanied by BDS for new potential clients.

CASA provided technical assistance to Coopbank to build its capacity to assess the oilseeds sector in Benshangul Gumz, Gameblea, and Oromia regions for in-depth understanding on the growth potential, challenges and opportunities and application of their business model. In addition, CASA equipped Coopbank’s experts – with an emphasis on cooperative and agricultural banking BDS and coop marketing strategy development skills – to deliver effective business coaching and mentoring to ensure coops’ business expansion and growth in the oilseeds sector supply chain. 

Through CASA support, training was delivered by Coop Bank to cooperative unions and agri-SMEs and combined practical digital application use with applied business development methodologies. Under the FarmPass application component, participants were introduced to Coopbank’s digital agriculture strategy and received hands-on training on key functionalities, including farmer profiling and digitalisation, produce collection and yield estimation, input demand aggregation, digital payments and bulk disbursements, as well as dashboard reporting and SMS-based communication tools. This practical approach enabled participants to directly engage with the platform and understand how digital tools can support transparent data management, operational efficiency, and informed decision-making across agricultural value chains.

Under the business development components, standard templates were provided to design finance-ready investment proposals. The training sessions covered value chain analysis and opportunity identification, business plan structuring and governance considerations, detailed financial planning (including costing, cash flow analysis, profitability assessment, and repayment capacity) along with risk identification and mitigation strategies. The training methodology emphasised experiential learning through group exercises, peer reviews, and simulated loan appraisal processes, allowing participants to apply concepts in realistic financing scenarios and gain insight into lender requirements.

Implementation of Coop Bank’s digital agricultural finance programme faced a few challenges including low initial digital literacy among participants, connectivity constraints in rural areas, weak management capacity across cooperatives, and seasonal time limitations that affected participation. The programme adopted a range of adaptation measures such as emphasising hands-on learning, providing peer mentoring and group coaching, offering offline data entry options, and implementing flexible training schedules to accommodate participants’ availability. Despite these challenges, the initiative identified significant opportunities, including the use of FarmPass data for digital credit scoring, scaling cooperative-led aggregation models, strengthening market linkages between agri-SMEs and cooperatives, and replicating the approach across other agricultural value chains.

Updated: March 2026