Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund
Notre métier > Nos gammes d'activité > I&P Ecosystèmes > Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund
About
I&P is be part of a new ambitious initiative for the investment industry in Sub-Saharan Africa: the USD$200 million Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, a Fund of Funds which works through African investment vehicles to support early-stage, growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups on the continent.
Strategy: an initiative dedicated to African investment vehicles
African SMEs struggle to access the financing they need to scale, constraining their potential for job creation and limiting their development.
The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund tackles this challenge by investing in and strengthening African investment vehicles that in turn support African SMEs.
In addition to providing capital for investment vehicles, the Fund of Funds offers a business development facility for their portfolio companies.
Targets and objectives
The Fund-of-Funds initiative uses gender-lens investing principles to help advance the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, which aims to enable 30 million young people in Africa, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
The program provides funding for Early-stage, Growth, Debt and Seed VC Funds and other non-traditional funds. A promising pipeline of 180 diverse investment vehicles has already been built.
Case study: Aruwa Capital Partners
The first investment of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund went to Aruwa Capital Management, a gender-lens $USD 20M fund dedicated to Nigeria's SMEs, managed by a first-time woman-led fund manager.
Launched in 2019 by Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes to address the investment gap that women led enterprises face in Africa, the fund invests in women focused small and growing businesses in Nigeria and Ghana, targeting investments in critical sectors such as healthcare, fintech, renewable energy, and essential consumer goods.
Click here to submit your applicationConsortium partners
The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund is implemented by a consortium of partners, led by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) and including Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP), Genesis Analytics, the Criterion Institute, and Africa Communications Media Group.
Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) is the Fund Advisor for the Fund of Funds, responsible for sourcing, assessing, and supporting the investment vehicles.
The team

Benson Gagi

Dennis Onyango

Hugues Vincent-Genod
Hugues Vincent-Genod

Hugues joined I&P in 2011 and holds the position of Director within the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund program since 2022.

Thelma Kodowu
Thelma Kodowu

Thelma joined I&P in 2023 and holds the position of Investment Manager within the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund. She is based in Accra.
...Latest News
![]() I&P sponsors Inua Capital, a new woman-led impact fund dedicated to SMEs in UgandaNews | 08/03/2023 I&P, through its dedicated program I&P Development (IPDEV 2), is proud to take part in the launch of Inua Capital, a gender-lens and impact-focused investor that provides patient growth capital to small- and medium-sized enterprises in Uganda. Inua Capital has just reached the... |
![]() « Ce fonds privé qui fait grandir les PME africaines » : An article from Anne Cheyvialle on I&P for Le FigaroIn The Press | 12/01/2023 In this article from Le Figaro, Anne Cheyvialle describes the rise of the Burkinabe agricultural processing company Agroserv, now the leading player in the maize value chain in Burkina Faso and on its way to becoming one of the most important players in West Africa, and how I... |
![]() The first investment of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund goes to Aruwa Capital ManagementNews | 05/12/2022 The first investment of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (whose launch was announced last week) goes to Aruwa Capital Management, a gender-lens 20mUSD fund dedicated to Nigeria's SMEs, managed by a first-time woman-led fund manager. Aruwa announced today the successful... |
![]() $200 Million Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund debuts to empower emerging African fund managersNews | 01/12/2022 I&P is proud to be part of an innovative and bold initiative for the investment industry in Sub-Saharan Africa: the USD$200 million Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, a Fund of Funds which works through African investment vehicles to support early-stage, growth-oriented small... |