The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund has made an anchor investment in Sabou Capital, a Nigeria-based impact fund focused on scaling small and medium-sized enterprises across West and Central Africa, as institutional capital begins to flow more deliberately toward secondary cities and underserved regional markets.
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has approved a commitment of up to $100 million to invest in Africa-focused technology fund managers, with initial allocations going to Lightrock Africa Fund II and Future Africa Fund III as the institution increases its exposure to the continent’s digital economy.
AfricInvest, through its Financial Inclusion Vehicle (FIVE), has led a growth investment round in BFREE, a pan-African investor in distressed retail and SME loans, as the company looks to expand portfolio acquisitions, deepen partnerships with financial institutions, and enter additional African markets.
Development finance institutions British International Investment (BII) and Norfund have provided a combined $80 million financing package to NMB Bank to expand lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and agricultural businesses in Tanzania.
The West African Development Bank (BOAD) and Proparco, a subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group, have signed a €200 million financing agreement (approximately CFAF 131 billion).
Impact Fund Denmark has committed an additional DKK 40 million to the Nordic Horn of Africa Opportunities Fund (NHAOF), increasing funding available to small and medium-sized enterprises in Somalia as the country continues to face pressure from conflict, climate shocks and limited access to long-term capital.
Foreign exchange liberalization, tighter monetary policy and increasing transparency have helped Nigeria reemerge as one of the most commercially compelling financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report by Crisil Coalition Greenwich, as improving liquidity and investor participation reshape activity across the country’s FX, bond and equity markets.
Triple Jump has provided $8 million in debt funding to Africa Xpress, supporting the company’s plans to scale its electric mobility operations across Africa.
Sango Capital has acquired more than $120 million in net asset value across four African-focused funds from an institutional investor rebalancing its global portfolio, in a transaction that highlights growing activity in Africa’s secondary private markets.
Nigeria has increased its share of Africa’s upstream final investment decisions (FIDs) from 4% to 40% in just two years, according to a new government-backed review that points to a sharp turnaround in investor confidence following a series of energy sector reforms.
