The Graça Machel Trusts’ Gender Lens Investment Fund continues to drive innovative blended capital to early growth stage women-owned and led businesses in sectors where women are prevalent. While increasing efforts to build a track record in East and Southern African network activities, the Funds team led by Investment Director Andia Chakava, and Investment Analyst Jane Muia supported a virtual session which was hosted by African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) and its representative Imelda Wanja on 27th April 2022.
The session was in form of a deal share platform, whose purpose was to showcase the Fund’s progress and connect with a curated group of East-Africa-based, high-impact tech-enabled businesses. The platform also allowed the team to pitch their businesses to a Nairobi-based angel network (NaiBAN), an angel investor, for a possibility to raise seed and growth capital for the Investor Fund.
The Trust has been sponsoring the Investment Fund, a purposefully targeted Pan-African gender-focused impact investment vehicle to facilitate the flow of capital to women-led enterprises. It is an initiative that is designed by African women for African women to enhance the Trust’s track record by providing an opportunity for angel investors to engage with the Funds’ active investee pipeline in the East African region.
Key outcomes and learnings from investors
Four East Africa-based tech-enabled businesses pitched their offering during the event, showcasing different technology-driven solutions in transport, e-commerce, financial services and education. They were:
- Easy Matatu– a technology and mobility platform that connects commuters to convenient, reliable, safe, and clean public transport.
- Kuungana Technology– a financial technology solution that provides human-centric and data-based financial planning and management solutions to micro and small enterprises.
- Bliss Group– an e-commerce platform that offers omnichannel commerce, community connection, products, and services to African pregnant women and mothers.
- Jackfruit finance – an education finance solution that provides technology, capital, and reward programs that help expand access to education in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Participating entrepreneurs represented two countries Kenya and Uganda. These businesses were looking to raise funding ranging from US$125,000 to US$ 1 million. The session attracted 15 angel investors from the Nairobi-based angel network, Naiban who highlighted the importance of demonstrating a strong team, business model and on-the-ground operations.
During the session, it was encouraging to learn more about the feedback the businesses received which will strengthen their offering. This included demonstrating clarity around ownership structures and operating models. Also proposed was articulating a unique value proposition and business competitiveness, showing a clear route to market for regional expansions, and transparent risk mitigation through due diligence incorporated within business models, especially for financial services solutions.
“The investors highlighted the possible risk areas that the entrepreneurs should note, including slower growth operating models, insufficient competitive analysis to determine to play upon entry into new markets, limited traction, and failure to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the operating environment.”
Jane Muia, Investment Analyst- Graca Machel Trust.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.