From whey to nutrition: ALSEC’s circular expansion backed by BIO and the European Union
BIO and EDFI Management Company (EDFI MC) are joining forces to support ALSEC’s circular dairy-processing expansion in Colombia. BIO is providing USD 6 million in senior financing, backed by the EUR 3.1 million EU-supported TGVC guarantee managed by EDFI MC, alongside a further USD 3 million senior loan from EDFI MC’s EU-funded AgriFI facility.
Brussels and Bogota, 1 October 2026 -EDFI Management Company (EDFI MC), through its Transforming Global Value Chains (TGVC) guarantee programme under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+), is supporting BIO’s USD 6 million senior loan to ALSEC – Alimentos Secos, a Colombian food technology company transforming dairy by-products into nutritional ingredients. TGVC is providing a EUR 3.1 million guarantee to support the transaction, while AgriFI, the EU-funded Agriculture Financing Initiative managed by EDFI MC, invested a further USD 3 million alongside BIO. Together, these complementary EU-backed instruments show how Global Gateway can help unlock private capital for circular business models that reduce pollution, strengthen local value chains and support rural livelihoods in Colombia.
The financing will support the construction of a new production plant to process whey into whey-derived products and proteins for the food and pharmaceutical industries. The facility will incorporate a specialised processing line supplied and installed using European equipment and technologies, underscoring the project’s European industrial dimension and its contribution to stronger links between European expertise and Colombian value creation.
“What matters here is the alliance,” said Alberto Menghini, Head of Partnerships at the EU Delegation to Colombia. “The EU’s financial instruments create the conditions for private investment to flow. BIO and AgriFI bring their expertise and capital. And ALSEC – a Colombian company with a Colombian solution to a Colombian problem – leads the charge. That’s how Global Gateway is supposed to work.”
In Colombia, whey is often discarded into soil and waterways, where its high organic load can contribute to pollution. ALSEC will instead source whey and milk from small and medium-sized cheese factories and smallholder farmers, turning a polluting by-product into nutritious, higher-value ingredients and helping create a more sustainable, circular and locally anchored agri-food value chain.
“This investment shows how AgriFI and TGVC can back innovative agribusiness models that create jobs, strengthen value chains and deliver measurable environmental benefits in underserved regions,” said Rodrigo Madrazo Garcia de Lomana, Chief Executive Officer of EDFI Management Company. “By supporting ALSEC’s Milsec facility through AgriFI’s direct investment and the TGVC guarantee backing BIO’s loan, we are helping convert an environmental hazard into a productive asset for Colombia’s dairy sector, while demonstrating the added value of European development finance on the ground.”
The project is expected to reduce soil and water pollution, create new jobs in an ex-conflict rural area, strengthen commercial links with farmers and cheese producers, and support local production of ingredients that are currently imported. In doing so, it contributes to EFSD+ objectives and the EU’s Global Gateway strategy by promoting sustainable private sector development, local value addition, climate-conscious production, and more resilient agricultural and manufacturing value chains in Colombia.
“BIO invests alongside AgriFI in ALSEC in a strong example of European development finance joining forces to support climate-smart and inclusive agribusiness,” said Joris Totte, CEO BIO – the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries. “By transforming dairy waste into high-value nutritional ingredients, this investment helps strengthen food security, creates quality jobs in a conflict-affected region and demonstrates how circular-economy models can generate both impact and sustainable returns.”
“For ALSEC, the Milsec project goes beyond the purely strategic; it is the living manifestation of our deepest purpose: creating foods that transform lives, using ingredients to contribute to the world. By turning what was once one of the Colombian dairy industry’s greatest environmental challenges into the highest-quality nutrition, we demonstrate that conscious innovation has the power to heal our ecosystems and generate true well-being and development for our communities.,” concluded Mauricio Vargas, CEO at Alsec. “With the support of AgriFI, BIO and our banking partners, we can reach more farmers, reduce waste and bring new, locally produced nutritional ingredients to market.”
The TGVC guarantee helps de-risk BIO’s investment and preserve the project’s viability, enabling financing on terms that strengthen its development impact. TGVC is one of the EFSD+ guarantee programmes managed by EDFI MC to help European Development Finance Institutions mobilise investment in businesses that strengthen sustainable local, regional and global value chains in emerging markets, while crowding in private capital through innovative financial instruments.
About EDFI Management Company
EDFI Management Company (EDFI MC) is a multilaterally owned impact asset manager which delivers innovative development finance solutions that enable European DFIs, development banks and private sector investors to increase the scale and impact of their work. The company focuses on business models, technologies and geographies where other investors have not been able to operate at the desired scale given their resources and investment criteria. For more information, visit www.edfimc.eu
About the EDFI Transforming Global Value Chains (TGVC) Programme
The EDFI Transforming Global Value Chains (TGVC) Programme is a joint EFSD+ guarantee programme developed by European Development Finance Institutions and EDFI Management Company under the EU’s Global Gateway. The Programme supports and de-risks debt investments in companies and projects that make global value chains more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient, with a focus on high-impact sectors and challenging markets. For more information see https://edfimc.eu/what-we-do/transforming-global-value-chains-tgvc/
About EFSD+
The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) is the financing arm of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. It provides guarantees and blended finance instruments to support investments that contribute to sustainable development, particularly in fragile and emerging markets.
About Global Gateway
Global Gateway is the European Union’s strategy to boost smart, clean, and secure connections in digital, energy, and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education, and research systems across the world. It aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in investments between 2021 and 2027 to support sustainable and trusted partnerships globally.
About BIO
BIO is the Belgian Development Finance Institution and investment arm of Belgian international cooperation. It supports the growth of a strong, locally anchored private sector in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Ukraine. BIO’s investments create jobs and generate local tax revenues, attract additional private investments, focus on sectors often lacking access to capital and respect local priorities. Priority areas include sustainable agriculture, local value chains, renewable energy, and inclusive financial services, with special attention to women’s economic inclusion. For more information: www.bio-invest.be
