Finance: Good news for SMEs in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia

African Development Bank has approved a $15 million equity investment in Verod Capital Growth Fund III, a private equity fund that will make investments in high growth middle market companies

Good news for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia as the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a $15 million equity investment to see growth in the market.

The equity investment in Verod Capital Growth Fund III, a private equity fund will make investments in high growth middle market companies in Anglophone West Africa.

The fund which was approved by the Board of Directors will be in consumer-driven sectors such as light industrials, fast-moving consumer goods, education, financial services and agro-processing.

Chawki Chahed, the Chief Communications Officer, Office of the Vice President, Agriculture and Human and Social Development at AfDB, said in a statement that the ticket size for each investment will be between $5 million and $20 million

“The Fund will help accelerate investments in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the West African region. This is key to job and wealth creation, knowledge transfer and scaling up of local businesses,” said Abdu Mukhtar, the African Development Bank’s Director of Industrial and Trade Development.

He also added that “The Fund will provide an important vehicle to growing SMEs in Africa, which are a key pillar to the continent’s industrialization drive”.

Verod Capital Growth Fund III will have a direct and measurable impact on individual businesses in West Africa while improving their ability to expand thereby providing benefits in terms of government revenue and job creation to the countries’ domestic economies. This is in line with the Bank’s Private Sector Strategy of supporting projects that have a strong impact on job creation, economic growth and poverty alleviation.

Since 2008, Verod Capital Partners has invested in 16 SME companies in the region. The Fund’s target size is US$150 million.

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