GroFin receives high accolade at Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards

GroFin Nigeria won the Outstanding Healthcare Project-Friendly Financial Institution of the Year Award at the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA) 2019.

The award recognises banks and financial institutions that have created an inclusive innovative financing model for healthcare entrepreneurs or healthcare SMEs across the value chain. NHEA is an initiative of Global Health Project and Resources in Partnership with Anadach group and celebrates organisations who have contributed immensely to the growth of the Nigerian healthcare sector.

Felix Ezeh, Investment Executive at GroFin Nigeria, felt honoured that GroFin was recognised for this prestigious award:

“By this award, the public that voted for GroFin made a statement that they are appreciative of the work we are doing.  We heard them.  Our promise to them is that this award will only spur us to do more.”

NHEA’s recognition aims to stimulate quality improvement and innovation in the Nigerian health sector leading to improved service delivery & management of key health issues and the capacity of individuals to influence and set new performance standards in Nigeria & beyond.

GroFin’s unique model of combining finance and business support helps healthcare entrepreneurs and SMEs overcome challenges and improves their ability to manage the complexity of a growing business. GroFin has dedicated healthcare investment and business support expertise, both through its in-house healthcare “industry experts” and through formal partnerships with specialist healthcare partners like Medical Credit Fund (MCF).

GroFin’s healthcare portfolio in Africa and the Middle East consists of investments made in 41 SMEs, representing a total investment of US$ 16M, across the value chain of businesses in the healthcare industry including hospitals, clinics, dental facilities, maternal care and pharmaceutical outlets. Business support offered by GroFin includes a business planning framework, quality management systems, cash flow advice, medical waste management systems as well as operations and management expertise. And through its investments, GroFin has over 277,280 patients able to obtain medical care services annually and has helped sustain a total of 3,950 healthcare related jobs.

The NHEA 2019 brought further good news as a GroFin Nigeria exited client Healthplus Limited won Retailer of the Year Award, further helping to cement GroFin’s impact in the health sector of Nigeria.

About GroFin

GroFin is a pioneering private development financial institution specialising in financing and supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) across Africa and the Middle East. We combine medium term loan capital and specialised business support to grow SGBs in emerging markets. By successfully combining medium term loans and specialised business support delivered through our local offices, we have invested in over 700 SMEs and sustained over 88,150 jobs across a wide spectrum of business activities within the 15 countries in Africa and Middle East that we operate in. GroFin has its headquarters located in Mauritius.

Media enquiries: Felix Ezeh, [email protected]

GroFin and Shell Foundation: Harnessing technology for SME finance

From mobile money to blockchain and data analytics, fintech is not only disrupting the way corporate financial institutions operate, it also presents far-reaching opportunities for social enterprises and development finance institutions to strengthen their impact and efficiency.

Shell Foundation (SF) supports innovators to test new technology and enterprise models to help overcome two major global development challenges: access to energy and access to affordable transport. Its portfolio includes both social enterprises as well as market enablers – like GroFin – that accelerate the growth of proven sectors.

SF, a UK registered charity, has supported GroFin since its inception in 2004, when the two organisations came together to develop a unique model that combines finance and support to grow SMEs and drive inclusive economic growth. In line with SF’s focus to support businesses and intermediaries capable of delivering social change at scale, it also assisted GroFin in two projects aimed to enable the company to better leverage technology and increase the efficiency of its growing operations.

Mairi Tejani, Head of SME Growth at Shell Foundation, says financial technology innovations create a unique opportunity to redefine the SME lending ecosystem.

“We remain committed to supporting initiatives that increase the efficiency of the SME finance sector in emerging markets, and are pleased to partner with GroFin to test the use cases for financial technology innovations in SME funds.”

Increased efficiency

GroFin provides financing and business support to SMEs in 14 countries throughout Africa and the Middle East and has invested in over 700 businesses. The ability to provide effective business support to its clients is integral to GroFin’s business model. This requires the company to accurately capture and analyse financial and other data gathered from these SME businesses, or created through its transactions with them.

Until recently, GroFin relied on various internal systems and manually extracted the data it needs for analysis and reporting – a process which was both time-consuming and error prone. With Shell Foundation’s support, GroFin enlisted Altron Karabina, a specialist in helping companies digitally transform using the Microsoft platform, to develop a data warehouse and business analytics platform.

The data warehouse allowed GroFin and Karabina to develop automated reporting templates, eliminating the need to manual collate and update data for reporting purposes and greatly improved efficiency. For example, the project has allowed GroFin to slash the time spent on collating certain data for creating quarterly reports for investors from about two weeks to mere minutes.

GroFin is now using its own internal resources to extend the infrastructure and functionality created during the project to create a wider range of automated reports. Since the completion of the project, GroFin has already published more than 60 automated reports. The automation of reporting processes is freeing up time and resources within GroFin’s investment team, allowing them to spend less time on verifying figures and conduct the analysis needed to manage their portfolios and support their clients better.

A digital solution to capturing data

The need to maintain an efficient system of collecting data that is complete, accurate and auditable also led SF to provide GroFin with support to test and pilot a blockchain platform from BanQu, a US based, blockchain solutions provider. GroFin tested the use of a digital platform using distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a more effective and convenient means for its clients to submit the data required from them.

Philippa Massyn, IST Executive at GroFin, says the pilot project showed the great potential for development finance institutions and others engaged in impact investing to use digital platforms to collect data in the field.

“The project showed that a digital platform can not only make it easier for SMEs to submit their data, it can also be used to generate key insights through analytics.  We believe that if SMEs see this immediate benefit to submitting their data, they will be incentivised to submit again and on time.”

Serving SMEs better

Ashraf Esmael, Chief Development Officer at GroFin, says exploring new ways to capture and analyse data from SMEs, can make an important contribution to the development of the sector.

“Small businesses are vulnerable to shocks and therefore need to identify changing trends early on. The ability to capture and analyse data quicker and more effectively will help GroFin to provide better and more timely support to SMEs, and to do this more efficiently.”

Ryan Jamieson, CTO at Altron Karabina, says the company is excited to work with organisations like GroFin which have both an economic and societal impact.

“Altron Karabina helps companies to understand, manage and make decisions based on their data. In GroFin’s case this not only improved their own businesses processes. It will also help them to empower the SMEs they serve.”

GroFin Executive Transition Announcement

GroFin and its Board of Directors are announcing that effective 12 January 2020, Guido Boysen, Chief Executive Officer, is leaving the company to begin the next chapter of his career.  Over the past 12 years, Guido has played an instrumental role in establishing a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, and innovation within GroFin and among our stakeholders in the SME development and impact community.

We are grateful for his tireless efforts in helping GroFin grow and develop from its early years. Guido effected extensive change throughout GroFin and the SME development finance sector by implementing a benchmark SME risk finance system for the underserved.

“I am deeply inspired by how far GroFin has come and how many lives it has touched. The knowledge that now is right time for the next chapter in GroFin’s journey has helped me to make this difficult decision. I believe now is the time to secure GroFin’s future through new leadership, a fresh investment focus and boundless passion. There will always be challenges, but I am confident that GroFin is now poised to enter an exciting period in its history,” said Boysen.

“I will focus my remaining time with GroFin on facilitating a smooth transition to new leadership and support the implementation of the company’s medium-term Strategic plan. I also want to thank an outstanding GroFin team and our community of investors, funders, and advocates whose commitment and passion helped fuel our progress and demonstrable impact”. 

Jurie Willemse, GroFin Founder and Chairman, said:

“Guido and I share a passion and commitment for the mission of GroFin, and we both recognise the need for the business to continue to evolve. I am grateful for what Guido has contributed during his time with GroFin and he has played an instrumental role in getting GroFin to this point. We will miss Guido, but he leaves GroFin well positioned for further development and growth and we sincerely thank him for his leadership and great contribution to the company. The Board and senior team are committed to continuing to move GroFin and its mission forward as we have done for the last 15 years.”

An announcement regarding the appointment of a new CEO will be made in due course. If an appointment is not made by 1 January 2020, Chairman Jurie Willemse will lead GroFin in an executive capacity in the interim.

About GroFin

GroFin is a pioneering private development financial institution specialising in financing and supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) across Africa and the Middle East. We combine medium term loan capital and specialised business support to grow SGBs in emerging markets. By successfully combining medium term loans and specialised business support delivered through our local offices, we have invested in over 700 SMEs and sustained over 88,150 jobs across a wide spectrum of business activities within the 15 countries in Africa and Middle East that we operate in. GroFin has its headquarters located in Mauritius.

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