Intelligence & Analysis

To mark International Climate Day, I&P reviewed the "State of the Climate in Africa" report published by the World Meteorological Organization.

The environmental issue has become increasingly important at I&P, and is now a key pillar of our impact thesis. Climate change has and will have very concrete operational consequences for some small and medium-sized African companies: the issues of resilience and adaptation must be at the heart of the debates.

What are the economic prospects in sub-Saharan Africa? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) answers these questions in its semi-annual report on the Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa and presents two key themes: competition and competitiveness in product markets and domestic arrears in sub-Saharan Africa.

A summary of the report

A few months after conducting two field studies in Madagascar and Senegal, I&P is publishing a summary report on the challenges and impacts of SME formalization in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This report is primarily a practical document for entrepreneurs who wish to formalize their activities and for African investors and governments who are seeking to promote a formal entrepreneurial sector.

The Global Impact Investor Survey (GIIN) published the annual edition of its "Impact Investor Survey". The report captures data from 266 impact investors collected via a survey distributed during January and February 2019.

Download full report

Dalberg, the Dutch Good Growth Fund, Omidyar Network and the Collaborative for Frontier Finance published late October a report entitled “The Missing Middles: Segmenting Enterprises to Better Understand Their Financial Needs”, to which I&P provided data, expertise and guidance.

I&P takes a step to fight the risk of "impact washing" associated with the growth of the industry and drafted an article entitled "There is no such thing as impact, but only proof of impact".

EMPEA (an independent organization for private capital in emerging markets) published a new report entitled “Private Equity’s Role in Delivering the SDGs: Current Approaches and Main Practices”. The report also features several case studies, including one on I&P’s alignment strategy with the SDGs.

With the lesson n°9 from "Fifteen Years, Fifteen Lessons from Africa", we continue to share insights about key elements characterizing the impact investing sector and we focus here on the frequent need to extend the investment period when targeting small and young enterprises in Africa. Extending the investment period often appears necessary to enable these companies to reach their full growth and impact potential.

The eight lesson of the document "Fifteen Years, Fifteen Lessons from Africa" analyzes I&P’s choice to focus on small investments led by African entrepreneurs in fragile states. This represents an impact choice, motivated by the fact that there are very few financing solutions available. That being said, this choice has several consequences on the economic model of the fund.