GroFin opens 16th office across Africa and MENA, to invest in SMEs in Senegal
GroFin, a pioneering SME development financier, has opened its office in Senegal, furthering its expansion into West Africa’s Francophone belt after Ivory Coast.
With the opening of this office, Senegalese entrepreneurs can expect to benefit from the unique model of appropriate, medium-term finance and specialised, value-added business support that GroFin extends to Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) across its locations of operation.
Headquartered in Mauritius, GroFin currently has an investment footprint in 14 countriesacross Africa and the Middle East – straddling key economies in Eastern Africa, Western Africa, Southern Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – with one to two countries expected to be added each year.
GroFin’s latest in-country expansion heralds a new investment horizon for its flagship Small and Growing Businesses Fund (SGB Fund). Launched in September 2014 across nine African countries, the Fund has capital commitments of USD 100 million, making it one of the largest funds specifically targeting SGBs in Africa.
The SGB Fund follows on the fully invested GroFin Africa Fund, marking 13 years during which GroFin has supported over 8,500 entrepreneurs and invested in 640 SGBs, as well as sustained 104,950 jobs, benefitted 524,770 livelihoods and added economic value exceeding USD 700 m per annum through its investees, as at 30th June 2017.
With an evergreen structure, the SGB Fund was created by GroFin together with the Shell Foundation, an independent charity; the German Development Bank, KfW; the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Norfund; and the Dutch government through the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF).
