About us

Catalysing investment in High Impact African SMEs

Map of Africa

Our mission

Impact Capital Africa acts as a conduit between impact investors and growth-focussed Sub-Saharan African businesses that can deliver commercial success as well as social and/or environmental returns.

We support the impact investment process end-to-end through our core business operations:

  • Proactive SME identification and technical assistance to achieve investment readiness
  • Supporting continued SME development on our Impact Builder platform through peer-to-peer collaboration and connection with vetted training programmes
  • Investor engagement and market knowledge
  • Facilitating SME / Investor introductions, interaction, and due diligence through our Impact Starter platform
  • Gathering SMEs, Investors, and ecosystem enablers at Impact Capital Africa conferences
  • Market analysis and advice through Impact Knowledge

What makes us different

The ICA team is passionate about creating a self-sustaining investment ecosystem: supporting the growth of African SMEs that will contribute to economic resilience, and deliver social and environmental benefits, and financial returns. Collectively the team has over 30 years of experience working in Africa and in the impact sector, and leverages this experience and established networks to build relationships and nurture the African impact investment ecosystem.

Established in 2017, ICA has conducted two full seasons of impact investment facilitation in Zambia including successful international deal-focused conferences conducted in Lusaka in 2018 and 2019.

We have a strong network of global impact funders, including (governmental) donor agencies, DFIs, institutional financiers, private investors and fund managers.

  • DEALS CLOSED 2018 TO 2021

    >$ 80m

    DEALS CLOSED 2018 TO 2021

  • JOBS CREATED 2018 TO 2021

    20,000

    JOBS CREATED 2018 TO 2021

  • Deals closed

    21

    Deals closed

  • BUSINESSES PREPARED & PRESENTED

    55

    BUSINESSES PREPARED & PRESENTED

How it works

For SMEs

SMEs are screened for eligibility and assessed for investment readiness. They are supported in executing a development plan, if necessary engaging investment advisors to target key areas. SMEs are registered on the Impact Starter platform to digitally mingle with investors.

For Investors

Investors that sign up with ICA have access to the Impact Starter platform, allowing them to review the SME marketplace, interact with SMEs, and conduct due diligence.

For Ecosystem Enablers

Service providers, NGOs, and other ecosystem enablers can promote their brands, learn about SME and investors challenges, and share insights at the ICA events. The ICA conference brings together key players from the impact investing ecosystem locally and internationally to allow face-to-face networking, with a focus on deal-making.

Our approach

We leverage our collective experience and established networks to build relationships and nurture the African impact investment space, including:

  • Partnership with donors to identify, develop and support growth-focused SMEs as they become investment ready.
  • Working with investors to help increase market understanding and providing access to a pipeline of investment-ready SMEs
  • Providing business ecosystems with insight and networking opportunities, as well as helping to map potential exit scenarios
  • Delivering value through expertise from lawyers, accountants, banks, investment advisors and other key players
  • Producing reports and analysis on key growth areas in the markets we serve, and keeping them front of mind for investors

The ICA team

The ICA team come from a spectrum of backgrounds, but came together with the same vision: to increase Africa’s prominence in impact investment, and to show that financial returns can be achieved while making long-lasting, positive social, environmental, and economic impact.

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