Uhuru Growth Fund I-A SCP

Equity : March 2022

The SDG Frontier Fund has invested USD 2.5 M in equity in the Uhuru Growth Fund I, a PE fund focused on the ECOWAS region

This is an investment by SDG Frontier Fund

Amount

$ 2,500,000.00

Type of investment

Equity

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Promotion of ESG best practices
Gender

Beneficiary locations

Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

KK.64.300 SME Fund

Organisation

Uhuru Growth Fund I-A SCP

Website

https://www.uhuruinvestment.com/

Domicile

Luxembourg

More investments in

Uhuru Growth Fund I-A SCP

Equity € 7,063,392.00 (2022)

Uhuru Growth Fund I is a first-time private equity fund seeking to invest in high growth companies across the ECOWAS region, with a focus on Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and to a lesser extent on Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.

The Fund will invest in equity and equity-like instruments in small and medium-sized companies active in high-growth consumer facing sectors (e.g., fast-moving-consumer-goods, retail, healthcare, etc) and the financial sector (e.g., bank, insurance, pension services, financial technology).

Development impacts

Local economic growth
The Fund will provide long-term capital to small- and medium-sized companies in West Africa, including possible investments in LDCs and fragile states.

Large employment effects expected with the objective to support at least 3,000 direct jobs and contribute to the creation of 1,000 jobs, while actively promoting high quality jobs, fair wages and skills development.

Focus sectors with strong employment and growth enabling potential (financial services, food manufacturing and healthcare).

Support the growth of businesses into leading companies within their sectors or regional champions.
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Hands-on approach to value creation with a strong emphasis on enhancing the operations of portfolio companies, in optimising cost structures and balance sheets, as well as ensuring E&S compliance, improving corporate governance and supporting capacity/skills development.

Cross-border development: Uhuru is well-equipped to support regional expansion, thereby increasing resilience of investees across markets and supporting the regional economic integration.

Import substitution: Uhuru is partnering with companies that rely on local manufacturing and sourcing capacities, thereby bringing new capacity to the region, often replacing imported products with more efficiently locally produced products.
Promotion of ESG best practices
Uhuru will spend time ensuring that their portfolio company managers understand key ESG principles and are committed to developing effective ESMSs at their respective companies. The Manager will focus on human resources management, improving labour and working conditions, enhancing occupational health and safety, and optimizing the ESG of their supply chain.
Gender
The fund is 2X eligible as (i) women represent 50% of the staff and the fund has family friendly policies in place and (ii) Uhuru is currently drafting a voluntary an MoU committing to deploy 30 % of its funds in 2X eligible projects.

E&S Impact

Uhuru will update and improve its Sector-Specific Approach for Financial Institutions of the E&S Management System.

Situation at the time of investment

The fund has an Environmental and Social Policy and Management System in place that ensures that E&S risks are assessed and mitigated at all steps of the investment process. It outlines the E&S procedures, tools and responsibilities as well as the external Grievance Mechanism.

Risk Category: B