Skip to main content

Ascent Rift Valley Fund II

Subsidy : February 2022

BIO has granted 185.000 USD in technical assistance to Ascent Rift Valley Fund II, an SME Fund targeting fast-growing SMEs in Eastern Africa.

Amount

€ 163,170.00

Type of investment

Subsidy

Beneficiary locations

Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

KK.64.300 SME Fund

Organisation

Ascent Rift Valley Fund II

Domicile

Mauritius

More investments in

Ascent Rift Valley Fund II

  • Equity € 5,743,220.00 (2020)
  • Equity $ 4,000,000.00 (2020)

Ascent Rift Valley Fund II (ARVF II) is a private-equity fund that will primarily invest in fast-growing SMEs in Eastern Africa, with a focus on Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and including the possibility to invest in Tanzania, and Rwanda.

The Fund will benefit from the lessons learnt from the predecessor fund, Ascent Rift Valley Fund I (ARVFI).

Technical assistance

The aim of the BIO's subsidy is to set up a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF). This TAF will strengthen the economic performance (general management, finance, administration, operations,…) of portfolio companies and will improve their sustainability and ESG processes, systems and capacities.

Expected impacts

  • Improve SME business performances and increase the profitability of investees
  • Improve the positive impacts (E&S, quality of products, gender equality) of companies' operations

Made possible through this investment

Thanks to the direct funding from BIO, the following second-line investments have been made possible.

ACME Containers

Kenya

Manufacturer of multi-use injection moulded plastics

Diani Beach hospital

Kenya

Private hospital

Platcorp Holdings Ltd.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda

Platcorp provides credit to private individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Valley Hospital

Kenya

Private hospital

View more of our investments in this region

Société de Microcrédits Congolais

5,000,000.00

  Democratic Republic of Congo

  01/04/2026

Enterprises

Limbua Group

 141,025.00

  Kenya

  01/02/2026

  Subsidy

Enterprises

Orchidia Pharmaceutical Industries

8,100,000.00

  Egypt

  01/02/2026

  Equity

Investment Companies & Funds

Kampani

 2,000,000.00

  29/01/2026

  Equity

Financial Institutions

Vital Finance

 3,000,000.00

  Benin

  13/01/2026

  Debt

Investment Companies & Funds

Adenia Entrepreneurial Fund

15,000,000.00

  01/01/2026

  Equity

Infrastructure

Bandwidth and Cloud Services

15,000,000.00

  Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe

  01/01/2026

  Debt

Infrastructure

Sawa Energy

 29,500.00

  Uganda

  18/12/2025

  Subsidy

Enterprises

Biophyto

 2,750,000.00

  Benin

  01/12/2025

  Debt