Impact Investing Ghana is sponsoring the setup of the Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds. Ci-Gaba is a blended finance vehicle to unlock local funding for West African venture funds and small & medium enterprises for inclusive growth.
The fund Ci-Gaba is designed to unlock institutional capital for high-growth SMEs by addressing the pain points of three key stakeholders.
THE PROBLEM:
Systems enabling vehicles are needed to unlock local institutional funding, catalyze the field and enable multiple stakeholders to invest in the growth of SMEs across Ghana and Sub-saharan Africa.
SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES)
- Drive the Economy: An estimated 92 percent of West African businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises. They employ 80 percent of the workforce and generate 70 percent of the region’s GDP.
- Have No Access to Patient Capital: IFC estimates a $5.2 billion annual Financing Gap for 40% of SMEs in developing countries. Available financing is mostly debt with almost no access to patient capital options.
- Need Smaller Ticket Items: SMEs require smaller ticket items between $50k and $2mil* than the current investing landscape is able to provide. Catalytic capital is needed to enable the size of investments that the market actually needs.
LOCAL FUND MANAGERS
- Emerging Fund Managers Deploy Smaller Ticket Size: Local emerging fund managers have smaller ticket sizes than experienced or regional funds. They represent an opportunity to reach more SMEs.
- Experienced Fund Managers Invest Regionally: They have the experience to scale businesses across markets and to do complex regional deals.
- All Struggle to Raise Local Funding: Both emerging and experienced managers struggle to access local funding exposing them to significant currency risk, limiting their success in international fundraising and keeping their funds small.
LOCAL PENSION FUNDS
Local institutional investors like pension funds cannot find institutional-grade vehicles to invest in the productive sectors of the economy
- Represent Long Term Capital Pool: GHC 35 billion (approx. USD5billion) in assets in Ghana; N 12.3 trillion (approx. USD 32.3 billion) in assets in Nigeria.
- Need Alternative Assets: Are able to invest up to 10% of their portfolios into venture capital with moves by the regulator to set a minimum floor.
- Lack Institution Grade Options: Do not have access to institution grade options to invest in private equity/venture capital that meets their risk/return requirements.
THE SOLUTION
Ci GABA is a blended finance vehicle unlocking local pension funding to invest in experienced and emerging managers, investing across the West Africa Sub-region in SMEs with high growth and impact potential in the following sectors; agriculture/agribusiness, light manufacturing, healthcare, education, financial inclusion and technology.
- Derisking: The fund is designed with a layer of catalytic capital to crowd in local institutional investors. Investments experienced fund managers provide needed regional diversification. It will also undertake opportunistic co-investments with its investee funds.
- Technical Assistance: Emerging Manager Support including TA facility for portfolio companies and designing of Impact metrics and measurement frameworks. It will also build the capacity of local pensions to understand and continue to invest in private funds.
- Collaborative Design: The fund is a result of collaborative action by many partners, a Fund of Funds action group worked on the initial design. Then the Global Steering Group for Impact Investments (GSG) was instrumental in connecting initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation, World Economic Forum, Collaborative for Frontier Finance, and other key thought partners to provide input on the design. In addition, the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) fund, a project of UK International Development supported the operational set-up and stakeholder engagement and FMO Ventures supported the development of the impact measurement and management matrix.
For more information contact:
Hamdiya Ismaila, hismaila@siaghana.com or Yaw Osei-Tutu, yaw.osei-tutu@impactinvestinggh.org