Three women fund managers selected to receive Visa’s grant funding from the African Women Impact Fund Initiative

Three women fund managers from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have been selected to receive Visa’s grant funding from the African Women Impact Fund Initiative (AWIF), a collaboration between Standard Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

SME.NG (Nigeria), Altree Capital (Kenya) and Maia Capital (South Africa) are the selected recipients and can utilise the grants for his or her warehousing capital wants to put money into women-owned entrepreneurs throughout a spread of sectors.

Last 12 months Visa introduced a grant to the AWIF as an extension of the She’s Next program, a worldwide advocacy program for women-owned companies which were expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa to additional champion and strengthen African women enterprise house owners as they construct, maintain, and advance their companies

“We are proud to extend our efforts to empower women entrepreneurs to the fund management space. Women fund managers in Africa continue to face numerous challenges in building sustainable businesses. Their progress continues to be slow due to systematic barriers and investor bias. Our collaboration with AWIF will accelerate the multiplier effect of funding across the entire value chain where women-owned businesses exist” says Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President & Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa.

Women fund managers in Africa proceed to face quite a few challenges in constructing sustainable companies. Research exhibits slow-moving progress in the visibility and inclusion of women fund managers due to systematic obstacles and investor bias. With African women accounting for simply 7.6% of personal fairness and women-led companies receiving solely 7% of Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) in rising markets, this highlights the alternatives that exist to cut back the present gender gaps.

“When you invest in women, you also invest in their communities. Investments that go into the hands of women fund managers not only go towards the growth and sustainability of the companies they invest in but the women who are part of the value chain of these companies. We are proud to have selected managers who have demonstrated their ability to support the growth and development of their communities, and through the grant, these managers will now be in a better position to scale up their efforts and impact the lives of many more women-led businesses,” says Lindeka Dzedze. Global Markets Head of Strategic Partnership at Standard Bank Group.

The collection of the grant recipients was via a due diligence course of managed by the appointed funding supervisor of the AWIF Initiative, Riscura. The rigorous choice standards have been in alignment with the targets of Visa’s She’s Next programme and AWIF that are to assist women-owned companies thrive and to help and develop women fund managers, respectively.

Dinao Lerutla, the Managing Partner of South African-based fund supervisor, Maia Capital, describes her organisation as the nexus between personal capital and inclusive development. “At Maia Capital, we are very intentional about ensuring that our investments positively and directly impact the low-to-middle income households in South Africa and generate a return for investors. We have a bias towards women businesses and businesses that promote gender inclusion throughout the value chain. Through our targeted investments, we hope to contribute to economic recovery that is sustainable and inclusive. This is why our investment themes include education, healthcare, housing, clean technology, financial inclusion, and gender inclusion” she provides.

Jenni Chamberlain, CEO of Altree Capital Kenya, is the Investment Manager of the Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund is certainly one of the selected fund managers. The Fund invests with a gender-lens and climate-smart method in sub-Saharan Africa, with a robust East African presence.

She explains: “We have 4 funding pillars that we deal with once we take a look at an funding, specifically, women entrepreneurs, women in management (the enterprise should have 30% or extra of women in administration or on the board), employers of women (over 30% women in employment) and/or merchandise & companies that can enhance the lives of women.

The Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund will utilise the funding to put money into women-led and women-oriented corporations, additionally driving sustainability and local weather adaptation and mitigation methods.  By deliberately specializing in women and local weather, Altree will present help not solely to the investee corporations but additionally to corporations in the higher funding worth chain, guaranteeing gender-equity mainstreaming and sustainability.

“There are numerous barriers to African women accessing finance for their businesses; women-led businesses are an important yet overlooked sector of the economy. These companies are growing rapidly and access to finance will improve their growth trajectory exponentially. Altree will prove the ability of these companies to produce strong returns for female entrepreneurs and investors alike. Not only are women most affected by climate change but women are early adopters of climate mitigation and adaptation technologies and solutions, as well as strong benefit multipliers. Supporting women-led and oriented firms empowers women, ensures climate action, and will transform economies and societies” Ms Chamberlain provides.

Thelma Ekiyor, the co-founder of SME.NG, says her funding platform is pushed by a gender lens funding philosophy specializing in the backside of the pyramid.

The agency leverages personal capital, public sector investments and philanthropic donations to deploy capital to impact-oriented feminine entrepreneurs. As an indigenous gender lens impression investor, SME.NG is dedicated to offering non-financial help that addresses the challenges women-owned companies face, alongside monetary capital. SME.NG is differentiated by the incontrovertible fact that it has a presence throughout eleven states of Nigeria reasonably than being concentrated in Lagos or Abuja, which makes its attain and impression important. Some of the small enterprise SMEs.NG will put money into embrace companies like NicNax Company – an organization that collaborates with native farmers to course of wholesome breakfast and snack choices. Popular manufacturers are granola and peanut butter, at present out there at most retail shops and eateries in Lagos. SME.NG may also put money into Smiley’s Mobile Kitchen – an organization that sources natural tomatoes from small-holder farmers and processes them into Nigerian “stew” bases, tomato and peppers purees and pastes.

“We have identified women businesses that have the potential to succeed across different sectors and we deliberately put a lot of emphasis on how women are impacted in the value chains of these companies. The grant from Visa and AWIF will help us strengthen our investment pipeline,” says Ms Ekiyor.

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