ImpactAlpha Africa: Local Capital Mobilizers

Greetings, Agents of Impact!

🌍 Introducing ImpactAlpha Africa. We’re excited to bring together our long-running coverage of the continent’s founders, fund managers, asset allocators and ecosystem builders into the first edition of ImpactAlpha Africa. Subscribers can look forward to a special Brief each month on the people and trends behind the news in a vibrant region for impact investing. We’re covering the mobilization of local capital, investing in women, AI for Africa, the growth of regional funds of funds and much more. Special thanks to partners GSG Impact, Collaborative for Frontier Finance and all the Agents of Impact engaging with us. With you, we hope to share insights, create connections and spur action for positive impact in Africa and beyond. – Jessica Pothering and Lucy Ngige

In today’s newsletter:

• Building ecosystems for impact investing
• Six steps to setting up an impact investing vehicle 
• Secha Capital’s operator-investor model
• Climate investing in Zimbabwe and Senegal

Featured: Pathways to Growth

Seeding impact investing ecosystems in Senegal, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. The surge in oil prices is swelling the coffers of Senegal’s 12-year old sovereign wealth fund, FONSIS. A coalition of impact investors is trying to turn that windfall into an impact investment ecosystem. A growing network of local fund managers and other intermediaries is also seeking to tap pension funds, bond markets and other local capital networks to build a more durable source of domestic and regional financing. “I want to see a real value chain of impact investing and impact capacity building,” says Nanna Sylla-Coulibaly of WIC Capital, a gender-focused fund that invests in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

• National advisory boards. Orchestrating some of the field-building is GSG Impact, which is teaming up with local fund managers in national advisory boards, or NABs, to engage policy makers and other ecosystem actors, and pool capital from local institutional capital providers to support small businesses. The effort in Senegal is part of an effort to expand impact investing into smaller, overlooked markets including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia, with support from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It takes a whole ecosystem approach, involving investors, government, companies and civil society, to create the conditions for impact economies,” says GSG’s Impact’s Mark Kolmar.

• Bottom up. The ambition to seed and scale impact ecosystems across Africa builds on the effort by Ghana-based Ci-Gaba, a fund of funds raising capital from domestic pension funds to support small and mid-sized businesses. The fund of funds reached a first close this year; its goal is to raise 70% of its targeted $75 million from Ghanaian pensions. GSG Impact is working with local fund managers in each region to design structures best suited to secure local capital. Taskforces in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are exploring fund of funds models. Côte d’Ivoire is considering issuing diaspora bonds. In Burkina Faso, the goal is to shift the mindset from merely “helping enterprises survive,” says Yacouba Ouedraogo of Africa Impact Investing Partnerships Center, part of the Burkina Faso NAB.
  
• Keep reading, “Seeding impact investing ecosystems in Senegal, Zambia, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire,” by Lucy Ngige. 

Catch up on ImpactAlpha’s reporting on Africa’s local capital mobilization: 

• Institutional investors. “African investors warm to regional funds of funds to finance small business growth,” and “Tapping local asset owners to finance growing businesses in Africa.”
  
• Responsive finance. “African asset owners and fund managers chart local ‘pathways to growth’,” and “More of the right kind of capital for growth firms in Africa (video).”
  
• Catalytic capital. “With philanthropic capital, Growth Firms Alliance is mobilizing local pension funds around small-business financing.”

Sponsored by GSG Impact

Building an impact investment vehicle, in six steps: A practical guide. African institutional investors hold more than $2 trillion in assets, yet regulatory constraints, risk perception and liquidity requirements keep that capital disconnected from local impact opportunities. Impact investment vehicles can bridge that divide, writes GSG Impact’s Charlotte Badenoch. Building them requires aligning diverse stakeholders, navigating local governance realities and confronting the real or perceived risks that stall capital. To help practitioners get started, GSG Impact has laid out a six-step framework for structuring impact vehicles in a new practitioner’s guide.

• Practical steps. The guide draws on examples from GSG’s work in Ghana, Japan, Canada and Spain to show how catalytic capital, public-private partnerships, and locally grounded leadership can mobilize local investment for impact. The steps, which include identifying market failures and structuring blended-finance solutions, can be done in parallel. “When we get it right, communities, enterprises and ecosystems finally gain access to the capital they need to grow and thrive,” writes Badenoch.
  
• Keep reading, “Building an impact investment vehicle, in six steps: A practical guide,” by GSG Impact’s Charlotte Badenoch. Go deeper: “A practitioner’s guide to impact vehicle structuring.” 

Dealflow: Operator-Investors

Secha Capital secures $30 million for its operator-investor growth approach to South African businesses. Brendan Mullen, Rushil Vallabh and Nombuso Nkambule have spent a decade getting their hands dirty in the day to day work of running a business. Fifteen of them to be exact. The Johannesburg-based team behind private equity firm Secha Capital invests much more than money in companies with potential for growth and job creation. Secha gets deeply involved in operations, both providing and recruiting talent to help their portfolio companies ramp up production, enter new markets, and improve efficiency. “The upside is it helps embed the mission and vision and strategy that we have underwritten and expedites value creation,” said Mullen. The firm recently reached a $30 million second close for its second fund, with South African impact investor E Squared Investments becoming Secha’s newest LP.

• Local LPs. “The emerging market venture capital and private equity space is increasingly realizing we can’t copy and paste models from the US and Europe,” Mullen  said. Secha is focused on raising most of its capital from South African investors. “There are more LPs, but not many that are flexible and proactive,” he says. Secha’s goal is to raise $40 million. E Squared could help Secha tap into an affiliated fellowship program with “the best and brightest high school and university students in South Africa,” said Mullen. “It’s a great talent pool for our model.”
  
• Read on.

Other investment news crossing our desks:

• African banking group Ecobank announced a $3 billion commitment to expand trade finance for agribusiness, manufacturing and commerce in 34 countries. (Ecobank)

• The Africa Finance Corp. committed $40 million to Lightrock Africa and Future Africa. The funding is part of a $100 million vehicle AFC created to back Africa-focused tech fund managers. (Africa Finance Corp.)

• France’s Proparco invested $2 million in Cauridor, an Ivorian fintech that routes cross-border payments to local cash and mobile money networks in West Africa. (Disrupt Africa)

• Check out more than two dozen other recent impact deals in Africa. 

Signals: Climate Investing

Here’s where climate investors can find opportunities in Senegal and Zimbabwe. Africa’s Big Four – South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt – attract most of the attention and capital from investors. For climate investors, the green transition is happening faster in some of Africa’s smaller markets. Zimbabwe, for example, may be better known for hyperinflation than clean tech, but Africa’s former breadbasket is building climate opportunities into its economic revival, reports contributing editor Marilyn Waite. Senegal, both a producer and heavy user of fossil fuels, is leveraging a Just Energy Transition Partnership to mobilize capital for renewables and other green initiatives. In her latest country spotlights, Waite identifies key policies and sectors for curious climate investors.

• Zimbabwe’s green banking bet. Shoring up its finances, and financial institutions, was key to Zimbabwe’s 6% GDP growth last year. “Laying the groundwork for a more climate-resilient economy will continue to help rebuild trust with overseas businesses and investors,” writes Waite. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe requires banks to integrate climate risks into credit decisions, governance and disclosures. Green credentials are also a growth catalyst. ZB Bank became the first financial institution in the country to have its sustainability certified by the European Organisation for Sustainable Development. Zimbabwe’s network of credit unions are rebuilding with new products, including solar loans. Go deeper.
  
• Senegal’s just transition. Senegal only recently started commercial production of its substantial oil and gas reserves. “Will it lock in a sustainable future, or choose fossil fuels and pollute?” writes Waite. Senegal became one of four countries to approve a Just Energy Transition Partnership to mobilize capital for green development. It has also completed new renewable energy projects, including the 158-megawatt Taiba N’Diaye wind farm and the Kahone and Kael solar power plants. And Senegal offers tax exemptions on solar panels, inverters, batteries, solar lamp kits and water heaters; its Investment Promotion Agency helps foreign investors navigate regulations and incentives. Dive in. 

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

2X Global tapsNasri Adam, previously with the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance, as managing director of programs.. ResponsAbility is hiring a senior investment officer for climate finance for Africa, and a senior analyst for a fund of funds… Moringawayseeks an investment analyst for impact finance… The Global Green Growth Instituteis hiring an investment officer in Côte d’Ivoire… Enabel seeks a climate expert in Mozambique… Ninety Onehas openings within its innovation acceleration program… Lendableis recruiting an impact and ESG associate… Climate Analytics is hiring a project manager in Togo.

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– May 21, 2026