Africa

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

Climate Journal reporting — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:55:04 +0000

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

Tags

Impact investing

Impact Ecosystem

Africa

communication

SDGs

Social Innovation

Topic

Impact Investing

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) launched a new communication channel, The Africa Advantage digital magazine, to smash assumptions and showcase the continent as a globally competitive destination for impact capital.

As an ecosystem builder and a network of social investors collaborating to mobilise and deploy impact investments in Africa, AVPA hopes that with this new format, they can better present market potential, innovation, human capital and a wealth of untapped opportunities.

“Africa's complex and unique social challenges have often been viewed as an embarrassment, but instead, we see them as exciting impact investing opportunities for social transformation”, says Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

The first edition of the publication features a collection of sector or opportunity-specific articles written by African experts, highlighting the unique opportunities not just for Africa but the world at large.

Topics include Africa`s impact investing landscape, interviews with leading changemakers, impact entrepreneurs and policymakers such as Ojoma Ochai, Managing Partner of The Creative Economy Practice at CC Hub, which aims to stimulate innovation and technology application to catalyse African Creative Economy growth.

Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

Dr Aswani adds:

“We intend to connect a diverse network of social investors, ecosystem enablers, innovators, policymakers and knowledge actors, not just within Africa, but also with those from Asia, Europe, North and Latin America.”

AVPA believes that while Africa faces socio-environmental challenges similar to those of other developing regions, it contains unique features that, when fully exploited, can potentially bring innovative sustainable solutions to regional and global challenges.

The organisation emphasised that unique opportunities could arise from a continent characterised by its young and diverse population, rich natural resources and various social challenges, providing unparalleled opportunities for testing innovative and globally scalable solutions.

They see these factors as enablers, making Africa the ideal sandbox for innovations with positive societal and environmental impact while testing new markets, products, services, new finance structures and impact business models.

The scope of The Africa Advantage magazine is to go beyond information dissemination and build a foundation to catalyse discussions and ultimately stimulate incremental impact capital deployment to and on the continent.

Headline image: Unsplash

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

November 2023

Investors in Asia and Africa are invited to join the growing impact investing market

Business Spirit News reporting — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 11:36:49 +0000

Investors in Asia and Africa are invited to join the growing impact investing market

Tags

Topic

First Impact Investing Fellowship program for asset owners and managers in Asia and Africa was launched to offer learning and networking.

The Impact Investing Fellowship was born from the shared mission of the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) and Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) to transform the social investment landscape and increase the flow of capital and resources towards impact investing in these regions.

This trailblazer project is designed to challenge the perception of asset owners and managers that impact investing is a trade-off for financial returns, and the private sector should only focus on achieving financial returns.

Organisers of the Fellowship program state that today’s impact investment market offers diverse and viable opportunities for investors to advance social and environmental solutions through investments that also produce financial returns.

“Both continents have huge potential to augment their economic and social potential and to build on their recent successes by sharing different experiences of growth and development,” says Bridget Fury, Head of Oppenheimer Generations Philanthropies about why a program like this is needed.

“There is scope for Asia and Africa to see synchronised, sustainable growth if we establish optimal alliances between the regions.”

Bridget Fury, Head of Oppenheimer Generations Philanthropies; Image: Harambeans

In the last four years, the compound annual growth rate in impact investing in East and Southeast Asia alone was 20%, higher than the U.S and Canada.

“There is a mismatch between the supply of impact investment capital and demand from impact businesses. Investors will need to find innovative means to tailor their funds and meet the needs of these businesses where they are,”

adds Dr. Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA.

Sixty participants will be selected in equal numbers from Asia and Africa to join the program that will help them have the right information and resources on building an impact investing strategy, managing a portfolio, defining, evaluating, and managing impact, among other skills.

In collaboration with Faculty from the Oxford Saïd Business School, impact investing experts will facilitate the program over four months.

Applications are open to asset managers, foundation directors, accelerators, incubators and NextGen leaders until 12 August 2021.

The first cohort of alumni will be supported by the unique network of AVPN, committed to building a vibrant and high impact social investment community across Asia, and the Pan-African network of AVPA that seeks to transform the social investing agenda in the continent.

Eventually, the Impact Investing Fellowship aims to increase the flow of social investment capital into Africa and Asia.

Headline image: Alexander Suhorucov from Pexels

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

July 2021

First extensive study on Social Investment in Africa reveals financial trends and gaps

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 11:50:05 +0000

First extensive study on Social Investment in Africa reveals financial trends and gaps

Tags

Topic

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance launched a high-level report on the state of social investment financing in Africa

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) launched ‘The Landscape for Social Investments in Africa’ high-level inaugural report on the state of social investment financing in Africa.

The report is the first of several concerted efforts aimed at addressing information gaps on social investments in areas such as Philanthropy, Impact Investing, Private Capital deployment and Corporate Sustainability Programmes across sub-Saharan Africa.

AVPA is a unique Pan-African network established in 2018 for social investors, headquartered in Nairobi with offices in Johannesburg and Lagos, with a mission to drive a transformative social investing agenda and build vibrant, influential community across Africa.

Their work is aligned with thriving sister networks in Europe (EVPA), South America (Latimpacto), and Asia (AVPN) to form a dynamic global force for social impact.

AVPA facilitates the flow of human, intellectual and financial capital, not only within Africa but also across countries involved with its partner organisations globally.

The Landscape for Social Investments in Africa report

“Africa needs an estimated $500 billion - $1.2 trillion annually between now and 2030 to meet its financing gap for delivering on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals targets.

With traditional sources of social investment like aid and government funding unlikely to fill this gap. Therefore, we need to turn to the global financial and capital markets for the requisite investments, “ says Dr. Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA.

“This demands a good understanding of the social investment landscape on the continent and increasing collaboration amongst social investors by breaking down existing silos between providers of grants, debt and equity.

We are taking the first step in this direction with this study. It provides a baseline against which we can track future progress and key trends that will influence the increased flow of capital into social investments in Africa while working collaboratively to identify programmatic interventions for creating increased social impact.” adds Aswani in regards of carrying out this broad research.

Dr. Frank Aswani, CEO of The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance

The report presents findings of an eight-month study across 18 African countries - six each in West, East, and Southern Africa.

The study was commissioned by AVPA with support from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), Social Capital Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and an anonymous donor.

"The US African Development Foundation (USADF) supported AVPA to carry out a landscape study to understand better social investment across East, West and Southern Africa.

The findings will help drive strategies and plans for future investors, donors, foundations, and public sector financiers.

We are constantly looking for ways to partner with corporations and governments that are interested in the business growth of Africa." C.D. Glin, President and CEO, US African Development Foundation

AVPA conducted the study in partnership with Intellecap, the advisory arm of The Aavishkaar Group, which works to build businesses that can benefit the underserved segments across Asia and Africa. It mapped providers of social capital - financial, human and intellectual, their investment strategies, and opportunities for collaboration amongst the various investors.

The findings highlight, among other things, what is currently happening, who are the key players, what are their current approaches to investing, what challenges they are facing, and the opportunities they are seeing. It also identifies additional areas of future research while making recommendations of opportunities to create a more vital ecosystem for increased capital flow and social impact on the continent.

Many social investors in sub-Saharan Africa operate in silos, necessitating strategic interventions to bridge gaps across the different types of capital and investment strategies.

Key findings of the report:

Over 820 social investors are operating in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region; 39% in East Africa, 31% in West Africa and 30% in Southern Africa.
The majority of social investment capital deployed across the regions continues to come from international sources with a growing number of active regionally-based social investors.

Overview of Key Social Investors in SSA

Donors, development finance institutions, and sustainability aligned fund managers are the largest providers of social capital across the SSA regions, deploying billions of dollars annually, mainly through long term projects.
Corporates and corporate foundations are emerging as strong drivers of regional social investment ecosystems.
While Southern Africa has the highest number of regional-based family foundations, a high level of activity was also recorded for regional family foundations in West Africa who are relatively public with information on their giving and the causes they support.
Regional Corporate Social Investors (CSIs) across sub-Saharan Africa largely support basic services (health and education) provision, while North American CSIs mostly focus on economic empowerment and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Development finance institutions and sustainability aligned fund managers investments across the regions are highly concentrated by geography and sector, following similar trends in sector preference with financial services, agriculture and energy.
Across the regions, tech-based enterprises focused on solving challenges in the financial services, agriculture, energy and healthcare challenges have received the highest focus from social investors.
Large pools of social investment capital deployed by African diaspora communities, faith-based organisations and other local capital providers represent a significant opportunity for collaboration with other social investors to make progress in key social sectors such as health care, education and affordable housing.
The supply of social investment capital in the SSA region remains significantly mismatched with demand from social enterprises and impact businesses.
With declining funding from donors and international foundations, non-profits are exploring alternative and more sustainable funding models.

The study includes an in-depth report for each of the three regions - East, West, and Southern Africa to provide detailed regional analyses.

Nancy Kairo, AVPA Executive Director for the East Africa region

“The East Africa section of this report shows there is an urgent need to diversify both the sources and the recipients of impact funds.

Development finance institutions are still among the largest providers of such capital, and most of these funds are invested in mature stage sustainable businesses that can absorb large amounts of capital.

Yet, to realise real change we need to see large capital flows from other sources such as the capital markets, high-net-worth individuals and grantors amalgamate in support of SMEs—the backbone of our economies.” says Nancy Kairo, AVPA Executive Director for the East Africa region.

AVPA plans to repeat this study every 2-3 years to track trends and improve the knowledge base within the ecosystem.

Footer

Report

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

November 2020

Berlin-based start-up brings upcoming African brands to the European market

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 17:33:17 +0000

Berlin-based start-up brings upcoming African brands to the European market

Tags

Topic

Unlocking the potential of impact-driven African enterprises

The coolest and most exciting brands from the African continent will be available on the European market, thanks to German online retailer, MANUYOO.

The company aims to provide an innovative, sustainable and inspirational marketplace that promotes local manufacturers from all 55 African countries. Their first range of available products includes running shoes, beauty products, palm liqueur, chocolates – all representing mission-driven entrepreneurs.

Jan-Marc Lischka , Founder, MANUYOO

"We want to sell brands that cannot be found in any European shop.

These products are far away from the usual Africa clichés.

We believe in the trade, not aid philosophy which allows these small scale business to grow stronger and create value on multiple levels”, says Jan-Marc Lischka , founder of the online retailer platform, MANUYOO.

"We are in close contact with our partners on the field, and we know the personal stories, the plans and dreams behind these young brands", says Lischka.

The recently launched MANUYOO platform also works with industry experts, trendsetters and influencers to bring new products to the online store.

Beside the actual online selling point, they provide extra communication opportunities to their partners to share their story through digital channels and a self-published magazine with insights on production, people and impact.

The MANUYOO team has launched an online crowdfunding campaign in September 2020, intending to introduce their first range of products and raise capital to improve the online shopping experience for their customers.

According to their plans, pop-up stores will follow shortly, and the product range will grow step by step.

“We strive to offer a great variety of products as we want our customers to discover something new with MANUYOO continuously", says Lischka.

'Africa your time is now' - Fashion for mission statement

The financing target with their campaign on Startnext for the first round is 15,000 euros, which will be used to expand the online shop and prepare next products for market launch.

Almost reaching their target before the closing round proves that there is a segment of customers who want to join the movement and willing to pay for these high-quality, value-driven brands.

The team has set out the second round of fundraising to expand their offers by involving more enterprises and gain more ground on the European market.

Female led cosmetics manufacturer in Ghana - Kaeme brand

One of MANUYOO's first partners is Kaeme, a cosmetics manufacturer in Ghana.

The small enterprise processes Shea Butter and Black Soap, Ghana's traditional skin care products. Company founder Freda Obeng-Ampofo and her small team manufacture the products themselves, the raw materials come from a women's cooperative in Ghana's north.

Obeng-Ampofo wants to make Kaeme a world-famous brand, which will be on the shelves next to the global cosmetic brands.

"Kaeme will be a success story that will change the image of Ghana, and the image of Africa for the better", says, Obeng-Ampofo.

She adds that the cooperation with MANUYOO is a huge opportunity for Kaeme to gain a foothold in the European market.

" We want a paradigm shift in our relations with Africa.

For us, Africa is a continent of new beginnings, of innovation, of opportunities. A continent with courageous, imaginative, committed entrepreneurs.

Our goal is to trade with them at eye level in a fair and transparent manner.” says Lischka about why they started MANUYOO together with four colleagues.

"We aim to make it easier for African manufacturers to access the European market – which would be out of reach for single entrepreneurs - and present their products attractively”, says Lischka.

According to MANUYOO, currently, the trade between EU countries and countries of Africa is unbalanced.

A good 70 per cent of EU exports to Africa are industrial goods. In contrast, industrial goods account for only seven per cent of EU imports from African countries, and more than 65 per cent of EU imports from Africa are unprocessed raw materials.

Footer

Profit with Purpose

Background style

Light

Sponsored?

November 2020