The 5 most popular stories on Africa Private Equity News this week
Here are summaries of the five most widely read stories this week on Africa Private Equity News.
1. South Africa: SA SME Fund backs new venture capital vehicle
Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs Africa (E4E), a new venture capital fund aimed at building internationally successful companies grown by South African entrepreneurs has been launched.
E4E, backed by a founding investment from the SA SME Fund, is unique as a venture capital fund in that it is run entirely by experienced entrepreneurs. E4E’s six founding partners have had extensive success in the local and international startup ecosystem, both as entrepreneurs and investors. This means the E4E team has first-hand experience of the kinds of challenges likely to face the startups in which it invests, speaks the same language as the entrepreneurs, and can actively help accelerate the growth of their businesses.
E4E will support business models that bring innovative solutions to critical sectors of the South African economy, including financial services, healthcare, and the sustainable agriculture value chain, as well as those with the capacity to scale inside and outside of South Africa. The team will pay particular attention to supporting black and female participation in early-stage ventures, either as founders or as key players joining the scaling phase of the investee companies.
2. AVCA appoints interim CEO
The board of directors of the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) has announced the appointment of Dara Owoyemi as interim CEO, following the departure of Michelle Kathryn Essomé last month.
Owoyemi previously served as board member and chief operating officer of AVCA, from 2011 to 2017.
3. Vantage Capital provides funding to affordable housing development
Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, has provided R82 million (about $4.9 million) of mezzanine funding for the development of Kayalane Heights, a first-of-its-kind affordable housing development located in Lebowakgomo, Limpopo. The promoter of the transaction is the Alleyroads Group, a leading South African black-owned property development company led by Ivan Pretorius. Since its inception in 2009, Alleyroads has built more than 3,000 residences across South Africa including over 1,500 affordable homes.
The current housing shortage in South Africa is extensive, the government estimates that there is a shortfall of circa two million homes. A number of initiatives have been implemented in the private and public sectors to reduce the deficit, however the current rate at which affordable housing is being delivered is less than the population growth rates in many areas. Alleyroads is a developer which is working to meet the demand for sustainable housing and help fulfil the government’s ambitious goal of providing homes for all citizens within 10 years.
4. East Africa: KawiSafi Ventures invests $5m in clean energy company
BioLite, a Brooklyn-based company on a mission to bring energy everywhere, closed a $5 million investment from KawiSafi Ventures, a growth fund investing catalytic capital to scale companies providing clean, affordable, and efficient energy to East Africa’s low-income populations. KawiSafi joins existing investors Emerson Collective and Disruptive Innovation Fund (Rose Park Advisors) to support Biolite’s plans to further develop innovative off-grid energy products for recreation and emerging markets.
Through partnerships with over 30 distributors in emerging markets, BioLite brings clean cooking and solar home energy products to customers in 17 countries. Since its founding in 2009, the company has provided cooking and energy solutions to over 700,000 customers, generated over 840 million hours of electricity, and offset almost 300,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
5. PE fund Vital Capital to collaborate with USAID’s Kenya Investment Mechanism
Vital Capital, a private equity fund focused on companies in sub-Saharan Africa, has announced a collaboration with the U.S. Government’s Kenya Investment Mechanism (KIM). KIM is a five-year programme funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to unlock significant financing to businesses in targeted sectors that have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Managed by Palladium, an international impact advisory and management firm, KIM aims to unlock $400 million in investments for key sectors of Kenya’s economy, including agriculture, and for regional trade and investment opportunities. By unlocking finance to agribusinesses and other sectors, KIM will pull small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) into competitive and growth-oriented value chains to foster broad-based, sustained, and inclusive economic growth in Kenya.
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