The gap
Finance is easier to get for large companies and for micro businesses than it is for the companies in between. The industry calls that gap the missing middle. Small and medium-sized enterprises in developing markets face regulatory barriers as well. Those two problems together hold back the businesses that create the most work.
The numbers make the case. In high income countries SMEs supply 60% of the jobs. In low income countries they supply 30%. We treat that difference as a commercial opportunity, not a charitable one.
How we fund
For a company with predictable cash flow and a defined use of funds. The facility is sized to what the business can carry, not to a template.
For a company where the next stage of growth needs patient money, and where the risk is better shared than lent.
Our own instrument. It bundles the finance with the services the management is missing, in one agreement. EPL used it to fund a full turnaround.
Our discipline
Every facility is sized to where the company actually is. We can write covenants that reflect the real operating position, because our own team works inside the business and sees it.
Where a second investor makes the deal stronger, we co-invest. The AMFRI facility was a joint ticket with Yield Fund Uganda. That structure paid for a processing plant neither party would have funded alone.
What we look for
We finance companies that already sell to paying customers. We do not fund an idea.
Stage
Revenue generating, with a market the management understands.
Markets
Uganda, Kenya and Somalia, where we have a team on the ground.
Management
A team that wants the skills as well as the money.
ESG
Reviewed on every deal, and turned into a commercial advantage where buyers ask for it.
Services
Sold alongside the capital, for an agreed fee.
Process
A short form. We do not ask for a deck.
One call, and a look at your numbers.
We review the business. You review us.
Terms are agreed, then the services start.