Impact investor opens Kenya office; appoints regional manager
The impact investing group Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) has announced the launch of a new office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Since its creation in 2002, I&P has considerably expanded both its activities and geographic deployment. The investment team, spread across eight offices (Paris, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Niger and Senegal) has invested in over 120 businesses operating in some 15 sub-Saharan African countries. The opening of the Nairobi office is an important step to expand I&P’s reach in East Africa.
Although historically more active in West Africa and in the Indian Ocean islands, I&P has already completed a number of transactions in the East African region. I&P has invested in Afribon, a Kenyan food flavours business; African Management Institute, a Kenyan management training company; and Finance Trust Bank, a Ugandan bank for microentrepreneurs and small companies.
I&P recently hired Asif Noorani as its investment manager for East Africa, with the aim of building on his local knowledge, networks and investment experience to grow the portfolio. Noorani is a seasoned private equity professional, having spent seven years at Fanisi Capital, a Kenyan PE fund investing in SMEs in East Africa where he was leading the investment team, as investment principal. Previous to that, he worked for Prime Bank in Nairobi after returning from London where he worked as a career accountant and lecturer.
The opening of the new office is part of I&P’s new €92.8 million fund, I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2. The fund aims to invest equity and quasi-equity as a minority shareholder in 30 to 40 businesses located in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. The investment tickets range from €1 million to €5 million. Thanks to the office in Kenya, the fund will actively target investing in high-potential small and medium-sized businesses in the East African region.
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