News
Networks Partner to Catalyze Impact Investing in Africa
Africa offers arguably the highest potential impact investment opportunities globally and is poised for strong economic growth.
However, this can only happen if these opportunities are strategically matched with innovative and impactful capital investments that address social needs and also offer financial returns where appropriate.
The current reality sees development aid decreasing and government funding shrinking while the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gap continues to widen.
This new landscape requires diversifying capital sources for social investments beyond grants, and embracing private players and capital markets as a burgeoning source of social financing.
To this end, the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) and investorflow.org are announcing a strategic partnership to further promote impact investing across Africa. The two organizations aim to achieve this by connecting investors on both of their virtual platforms to each other and to a growing list of vetted, investable deals.
The partnership opens up the two organizations’ members to deals beyond their geographical locations, North America for the AVPA members and Africa’s growing social investment landscape for investorflow.org members.
“This is an exciting partnership that will allow AVPA to add another 500 plus investors onto the AVPA Deal Share Platform and most importantly into the African social investment community,” says Dr. Frank Aswani, the CEO of AVPA. “It will enable greater co-investment and flow of financial, human, and intellectual capital into African social investments. AVPA will continue to seek strategic partnerships of this nature to grow its community of investors and pipeline of deals with a view to promoting investment collaboration.”
This partnership will ultimately strengthen the two networks while increasing the flow of capital deployed to address many of Africa’s most pressing social challenges. This is seen as a net gain for Africa’s social investment landscape.
“We are delighted to partner with AVPA. For the more than 500 investors on our global network, Africa represents the second most preferred geography for their impact investments.
By working closely with AVPA, we look forward to making it easier for our investors and theirs to learn about and co-invest in impactful opportunities across the African continent,” says Matt Eldridge, Co-founder of investorflow.org.
AVPA and investorflow.org firmly believe that their partnership will lead to increased investor collaboration and the mobilization of capital that can help grow and scale social investments across Africa.
EFCC
The African Development Bank Group last week approved an investment of €6.5 million in the Saviu II fund in order to support technology start-ups through their seed phase and first institutional fundraising, mainly in French-speaking Central and West Africa.
The Bank will invest €4.5 million as equity and €2 million as a first-loss hedging tranche on behalf of the European Commission, under the Boost Africa Programme.
This participation of the Bank Group will enable the Saviu II fund to give priority to companies with a strong technological or digital component.
Saviu II, the second investment vehicle of Saviu Partners, plans to invest between €500,000 and €3 million in about 20 technology or technology-oriented business-to-business start-ups in the seed phase or carrying out first institutional fundraising.
The Saviu II venture capital fund aims to make at least 60% of its commitments in the French-speaking countries of West and Central Africa: Côte d ‘Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.
The fund can also co-invest in promising technology companies in East Africa that have a strong team and business model, and whose strategy includes entering the market in French-speaking West African countries and establishing a strong presence there.
In addition, the fund will devote a dedicated envelope to pre-seed investments, focusing on minority equity investments, usually in co-investment with studios, incubators or other ecosystem partners.
Nigerian Government has signed a $1.3 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) via the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) to fund an alumina refinery, national geoscience mapping, and a strategic investment vehicle for mining growth.
Special Assistant to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Segun Tomori, said the refinery will process one million tonnes of bauxite yearly using a modern Bayer process, powered by an on-site gas-fired cogeneration plant.
Minister Dele Alake called it a transformative milestone boosting GDP, aligning with reforms that improve investment climate, regulations, and licensing to attract private capital. He directed agencies to fast-track permits.
The 20-year project at 95% utilization eyes 19 million tonnes total output, $1.2 billion annual GDP addition, $25 billion economic impact, and $8 billion forex earnings, per feasibility studies.
SMDF Executive Secretary Fatima Shinkafi termed it the agency’s biggest funding deal, supporting value-addition policy.
The partnership extends to geoscience mapping for mineral data, de-risking exploration, and a joint vehicle for mining assets.
Permanent Secretary Engr. Farouk Yabo praised the reforms. Shinkafi signed for government; AFC’s Franklin Edochie for the corporation, witnessed by AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu.
Tomori positioned it as Nigeria’s largest private mining investment and FDI magnet.
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