SA’s Maia Capital Selected As One Of The African Fund Managers To Receive Funding From The African Women Impact Fund Initiative
SA’s Maia Capital Selected As One Of The African Fund Managers To Receive Funding From The African Women Impact Fund Initiative. Three women fund managers from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have been selected to receive Visa’s grant funding from the African Women Impact Fund Initiative (AWIF), a collaboration between Standard Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
SME.NG (Nigeria), Altree Capital (Kenya) and Maia Capital (South Africa) are the selected recipients and will utilise the grants for their warehousing capital needs to invest in women-owned entrepreneurs across a range of sectors.
Last year Visa announced a grant to the AWIF as an extension of the She’s Next program, a global advocacy program for women-owned businesses that has been expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa to further champion and strengthen African women business owners as they build, sustain, and advance their businesses.
“We are proud to extend our efforts to empower women entrepreneurs to the fund management space. Women fund managers in Africa continue to face numerous challenges in building sustainable businesses. Their progress continues to be slow due to systematic barriers and investor bias. Our collaboration with AWIF will accelerate the multiplier effect of funding across the entire value chain where women owned businesses exist” says Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President & Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa.
According to Standard Bank, women fund managers in Africa continue to face numerous challenges in building sustainable businesses. Research shows slow-moving progress in the visibility and inclusion of women fund managers due to systematic barriers and investor bias. With African women accounting for just 7.6% of private equity and women-led businesses receiving only 7% of Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) in emerging markets, this highlights the opportunities that exist to reduce the current gender gaps.
“When you invest in women, you also invest in their communities. Investments that go into the hands of women fund managers not only go towards the growth and sustainability of the companies they invest in, but the women who are part of the value chain of these companies. We are proud to have selected managers who have demonstrated their ability to support the growth and development of their communities, and through the grant these managers will now be in a better position to scale up their efforts and impact the lives of many more women-led businesses,” says Lindeka Dzedze. Global Markets Head of Strategic Partnership at Standard Bank Group.
