Prime Highlights
- Aruwa Capital Management has closed its second close of its $50 million Fund II at $35 million to make investments in women-founded startups in West Africa.
- The fund will focus on industries such as healthcare, fintech, renewable energy, and consumer goods, with a sharp gender-lens investing focus.
Key Facts
- Fund II will make investments ranging from $500,000 to $2.5 million in women-focused small and growing businesses.
- Key investors are British International Investment (BII), Visa Foundation, Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, and EDFI Management Company.
Key Background
Aruwa Capital Management, a women-led and women-founded Lagos investment company, was founded in 2019 by Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes. Drawing on her history in international investment banking and private equity, Rhodes founded the company with the mission to bridge the glaring gap in funding that currently faces gender-diverse and female-owned businesses in Africa. Even though women control 40% of African small and medium-sized businesses, they garner less than 1% of available capital—a disadvantage Aruwa aims to bridge.
Aruwa’s first fund raised more than its target, at over $20 million, with anchor investor Visa Foundation. It also had the support of development finance institutions as well as strategic sponsors Mastercard Foundation’s Africa Growth Fund. Aruwa’s initial bets such as Koolboks (green energy), Lifestores Pharmacy (healthtech), and Fastizers (FMCG) delivered high social impact by bringing access to essential goods and services, especially to women and excluded communities.
Spurred by the success of Fund I, Aruwa Capital created Fund II, targeting $50 million. The second close size was $35 million, led by lead institutions such as British International Investment, which invested $5 million. Visa Foundation and the EU-supported Electrification Financing Initiative, managed by EDFI, also invested.
Fund II also invests in growth-stage businesses too large for venture capital but too small for large private equity. It invests between $500,000 and $2.5 million in Nigerian and Ghanaian businesses that share a commitment to inclusive development and gender parity. Aruwa does not just invest financial capital but also business operating guidance, seeking to build scalable businesses producing quantifiable social returns.
Aruwa’s model is a demonstration of how strategic capital and deliberate support can drive gender inclusion and sustainable economic growth in Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape.
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