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Alitheia IDF, Africa’s first women-led and women-focused private equity fund, has announced the final close of its $100,000,000 fund.
Led by principal partners Polo Leteka and Tokunboh Ishmael, Alitheia IDF invests in growth-stage companies across six African countries – Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zambia.
The goal is to bridge the financing gap for these businesses in Africa, ultimately enabling women entrepreneurs receive capital needed for their business to scale.
Investors backing the fund include the African Development Bank, Bank of Industry Nigeria, FinDev Canada, Dutch Good Growth Fund and the European Investment Bank. European Investment Bank (EIB) joined the round as the closing investor, committing $24,600,000.
In 2021, the fund led investment rounds in five women-led businesses — Jetstream Africa (Ghana), ReelFruit (Nigeria), SKLD (formerly SchoolKits, Nigeria), AV Light Steel (South Africa) and Chika’s Food (Nigeria).
“Globally, women have tremendous purchasing power as consumers and controllers of household economics. In the same vein, women entrepreneurs have a significant presence in Africa’s SME sector with African women making up 58 per cent of the continent’s self-employed population. However, despite this economic power and presence, African women are underserved as consumers and producers.” — Alitheia’s principal partner in Nigeria, Tokunboh Ishmael.
“This has had a huge impact on economic growth as the potential of more than half of the continent’s population remains untapped due to structural and systemic issues. We are proactively working towards filling this gap with a clear mandate to support women-led businesses across the continent while raising awareness for gender smart investment as a path towards inclusive economic growth.”
EIB vice-president Thomas Östros said women-owned businesses still struggled to raise funding, although they had proven their performance.
“I am very pleased to support a true ‘by women for women’ 2X Flagship fund that invests in companies creating job opportunities while enhancing diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy. The EIB’s investment in Alitheia IDF is part of our SheInvest initiative seeking to mobilise EUR2 billion of investment to boost gender equality and female economic empowerment across the African continent. I truly believe that gender equality makes societies stronger,” he said.
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