FinDev Canada Invests in Gender-lens Fund to Bolster Women-owned SMEs in Africa

Johannesburg (SOUTH AFRICA)- November 12th, 2019 – FinDev Canada has announced an investment of $7.5 million to Alitheia IDF, a fund supporting women-owned and led businesses, to boost women’s economic empowerment and access to finance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A joint venture between women-owned and led funds Alitheia Capital (AC) in Nigeria and IDF Capital (IDFC) in South Africa, Alitheia IDF Fund (AIF) was seeded with $12.5 million from the African Development Bank. The first fund of its kind in Africa, AIF uses a gender-lens investing approach to support high-growth African SMEs that help improve women’s access to finance and foster their economic empowerment.

The capital invested by FinDev Canada will be used to finance locally-owned, high-growth SMEs. The Fund targets SMEs that address unmet demand for essential goods and services and operate in priority sectors where women entrepreneurs are dominant both as producers and consumers, such as agribusiness and consumer goods.

More…https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/findev-canada-invests-in-gender-lens-fund-to-bolster-women-owned-smes-in-africa-300956608.html

Written by PR Newswire