With assistance from the Canadian government, Renew Capital, an impact investing firm with a focus on Africa, has launched a seven-year partnership to spread its effective blended finance model throughout East Africa.
The recently established partnership, which led to the creation of the Accelerating Regional Business Growth (ARBG) programme, aims to strengthen regional economic integration and provide technical assistance and support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in areas such as job creation, investment facilitation, and gender equality.
The firm has been making investments in Ethiopia utilising blended financing for the past ten years, mixing private capital with grants, state funds, and other financial instruments to lower the associated financial risks and draw in investment from a wider range of sources.
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The ARBG programme will be conducted in seven East African cities, including Addis Abeba, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Khartoum, Sudan; Kigali, Rwanda; Kampala, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya; Lusaka, Zambia; and
The programme aims to support 150 SMEs in increasing the proportion of women in their workforce and leadership, create 12,000 employment, 50% of which will be for women, facilitate $121.7 million in private finance into SMEs, and facilitate $87 million in regional commerce.
“The ARBG initiative is promising as it provides a platform to help entrepreneurs negotiate the hurdles they encounter in getting finance through multiple training programmes and advocacy work with stakeholders such as governments,” said Njuguna Diana, senior investment manager at Renew Capital.
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Renew Capital administers investments made on behalf of the Renew Capital Angels, a global network of angel investors, charities, and family offices that seek financial rewards and long-term social impact. Renew Capital supports creative businesses with significant growth potential. By 2027, Renew Capital hopes to have expanded its investment network to include 54 of Africa’s countries.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard