Investors

Who we are

Established in 2004, GroFin is a pioneering development financier specialising in financing and supporting small and growing businesses (SGBs) across Africa and the Middle East.

What we do

We enable committed entrepreneurs and local business people who have viable businesses or ideas to access the funding and support they require to succeed and hence, drive economic and social empowerment in their societies.

How we do it

GroFin increases the ability of a business to succeed by addressing several key causes of failure including access to finance and business support.

GroFin Model

Positive impact, jobs and enduring social and
economic value

Invest risk finance, skills and knowledge
into viable SMEs

Create funds that provide risk capital and
business support to grow successful businesses

Develop local capacity to create a
sustainable SGB impact delivery model

GroFin’s unique Viability Model enables us to successfully partner with, and provide medium-term risk capital and support to entrepreneurs and businesses in the SME sector.

Our model represents a unique approach to providing small and growing businesses with access to markets, risk capital, skills, and capacity building; and is appropriate for the emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa and MENA where many such entrepreneurs and business owners find themselves in the ‘missing middle’ – Small and growing businesses that are considered too large for micro-finance, too small for traditional private equity and too risky for traditional security-based lenders.

GroFin Funds

GroFin SGB Fund

The GroFin Small and Growing Businesses (SGB) Fund was set up in 2014 to serve as a commercially orientated vehicle to provide development assistance, as well as start-up and early stage growth-capital needed to develop sustainable small and growing businesses.

The Fund exclusively invests in Africa, in some of the most challenging business environments globally. The businesses it funds generally operate in areas with a high rate of poverty, and often employ people living in poverty or provide vital products and services to them.

Geographical Exposure:

Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Egypt

Iraq Funds

During 2019, GroFin expanded its footprint in Iraq by establishing Northern Iraq Investments (NII) as a separate vehicle for investments in the Nineveh Plains and other areas previously controlled by ISIS. As a result, the region has seen thousands of people displaced, major damage to infrastructure and a significant adverse impact on its economy. Based in Erbil, the new investment office is staffed by a new team. NII made its first investment in the north in the last quarter of 2019.

Nomou Jordan Fund

Nomou Oman Fund

Through a gift to the nation, Shell first established the Intilaqaah Enterprise Fund in Oman in 2007 and it was then rebranded to Nomou Oman in 2013. The Fund was established to benefit local entrepreneurship and Omanisation, which refers to the employment of Omanis by local businesses. It targets high impact sectors and aims to increase the number of local SMEs participating in the supply chain of large companies operating in the country. The Nomou Oman Fund (NOF) aims to contribute to job creation, especially among the youth, through stimulating the development and growth of Oman’s SME sector.

Geographical Exposure: Oman

Aspire Small Business Fund

The Aspire Small Business Fund (ASBF) supports viable, growth-oriented, micro & small enterprises to help stimulate long-term economic and social development in the Niger Delta region. It was established in 2013 through the joint effort of GroFin and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

The ASBF gives special consideration to labour intensive sectors which create high levels of employment. The Fund also focuses on current or former participants of small business support programmes, such as the Shell LiveWire scheme.

Geographical Exposure: Nigeria

Aspire Growth Fund

The Aspire Growth Fund (AGF) was founded in 2013 as the sister fund to the ASBF. It shares the same objectives as the ASBF, while focusing on larger (medium-sized) enterprises – with higher job creation potential – by providing its clients the local equivalent of between US$ 100k and US$ 3m in risk finance. It also targets businesses which can be integrated into the supply chains of multinational oil and gas companies. The Fund commenced disbursement in 2017, after overcoming initial challenges associated with market access.

Geographical Exposure: Nigeria

Impact Reports

GroFin Impact Report 2021

In 2021, GroFin’s investee businesses added nearly $275 million in economic value to the developing markets we operate in. As SMEs around the world had to adapt to a challenging new normal, GroFin’s founding belief that SMEs require support beyond finance to succeed has proven to be as true as ever.

Our Impact Report for 2021 highlights our efforts to support our existing clients to remain viable and to preserve as many jobs as possible. The impact figures it contains reflect hard-won gains for many entrepreneurs and are a testament to the human impact of every one of the nearly 30,000 jobs GroFin and its investors are proud to have helped sustain.

Download Full Report

GroFin

GroFin’s Impact across all GroFin funds

GroFin Impact Reports

GroFin Impact Report 2021

GroFin Impact Report 2020

GroFin Impact Report 2019

GroFin Impact Report 2018

Archives

GroFin Impact Report 2017

GroFin Impact Report 2016

GroFin Impact Report 2015

Nomou

GroFin’s Impact in MENA (Nomou Programme)

Nomou Impact Reports

Impact Report Nomou Iraq 2021

Impact Report Nomou Jordan 2020

Impact Report Nomou Iraq 2020

Nomou Impact Report 2019

Nomou Impact Report 2018

Archives

Nomou Impact Report 2017

Nomou Impact Report 2016

Nomou Impact Report 2015

Aspire

GroFin’s Impact in Nigeria (Niger Delta only)

Aspire Impact Reports

Aspire Impact Report 2018

Archives

Aspire Impact Report 2017

Aspire Impact Report 2016

Aspire Impact Report 2015

Quarterly Funds Overview

Archives

GroFin SGB Fund

GroFin SGB Fund – Q4 2019

GroFin SGB Fund – Q3 2019

GroFin SGB Fund – Q2 2019

GroFin SGB Fund – Q1 2019

Nomou Jordan Fund

Nomou Jordan Fund – Q4 2019

Nomou Jordan Fund – Q3 2019

Nomou Jordan Fund – Q2 2019

Nomou Jordan Fund – Q1 2019

GroFin Aspire Fund

GroFin Aspire Fund – Q1 2020

GroFin Aspire Fund – Q4 2019

GroFin Aspire Fund – Q3 2019

GroFin Aspire Fund – Q2 2019

Investors & Funders

We have enjoyed the support of more than 30 international development finance institutions, development organisations, foundations, large companies and private funders with US$ 535 million in cumulative funds raised. This includes us actively investing in our funds and programmes.

Our funds and programmes for start-up and growing enterprises are open to diverse investors with varying risk appetites and return (financial and development) expectations, with a range of instruments to address their specific needs.

Apart from the capital raised for our funds and programmes that is used for onward lending to our SME investees, the business support facilities are separately paid for using donations from public and private donors.

“Reaching out to the missing middle in a scalable way is a huge challenge and we are impressed by GroFin’s commitment to this difficult market segment as well as its ability to innovate a fund structure aligned with the reality of businesses in this sector.”

Dutch Good Growth Fundhttps://english.dggf.nl/

“One of the key innovations offered by the SGB Fund is its capital structure which allows a range of different funders to co-invest and deliver on their various impact objectives.”

Shell Foundationhttps://shellfoundation.org/

“As a GroFin investor since 2005 we took the next step and committed from our endowment capital to the SGB Fund as a result of the blended return profile, high impact and downside protection.”

Skoll Foundationhttps://skoll.org/

“GroFin impact track record addressed our Women Investing in Women Initiative (WIN-WIN) objectives centred around loans for organisations that empower women across our key sectors.”

Calvert Impact Capitalhttps://www.calvertimpactcapital.org/

“What we really like is the level of reach into a market segment of healthcare and education companies that we simply could not reach through more traditional private equity structures or direct investment.”

ELMA Foundationhttps://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/elma

“In Africa lack of access to capital is a critical limitation for SME growth and poverty reduction. GroFin’s risk capital in local currency and its active approach to its investments is a good starting point for the establishment of viable small enterprises.”

Norfundhttps://www.norfund.no/

“Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind economic growth. Supporting small and growing businesses and job creation is a key priority for KfW and hence our participation in the SGB Fund.”

KfWhttps://www.kfw.de/KfW-Group/

“The SGB Fund offers a unique low risk, fixed-income product in an SME market segment that meets our impact, return and risk criteria.”

Anthos Capitalhttps://anthoscapital.com/

Partners

GroFin’s network of partner organisations enable us to give our clients access to additional support, mentorship, capacity building programmes, and wider networks. Our partnerships with organisations like PUM, Partners for Food Solutions (PFS) and the Medical Credit Fund (MCF) gives our clients access to technical assistance from experts on specific industries like food production and healthcare.

GroFin also partners with organisations concentrating on empowering women entrepreneurs. Our partnerships with African Management Institute (AMI), International Trade Centre’s (ITC) SheTrades Initiative, Vital Voices Global Partnership, and Cherie Blair Foundation allows GroFin’s women clients to access additional mentoring, skills development programmes and networking opportunities.

See how the GroFin & PUM Partnership transformed Kenya’s Café Deli into a successful franchise.

“We were able to implement most of PUM’s recommendations which have boosted our service efficiency and product quality. We are very grateful for their support and to GroFin for introducing us to their partner PUM”

Obado ObadohFounder, Café Deli

Gender Lens Investment

GroFin is committed to the empowerment of women as one of our key impact objectives. In 2019, we introduced the GroWoman initiative aimed at helping women-owned businesses in our network to grow, while ensuring more women entrepreneurs can access the finance and technical assistance they need to succeed.

US$ 90.6M

Amount invested

210

Women-owned & managed businesses invested in

8,490+

Direct women jobs sustained

(Figures as at 31 December 2021)

Investors

Who we are

What we do

How we do it

GroFin Model

GroFin Funds

Nomou Iraq Fund (NIF)

Northern Iraq Investments (NII)

Impact Reports

GroFin Impact Report 2021

GroFin

Nomou

Aspire

Quarterly Funds Overview

Fund Reports 2022 & 2021

Archives

Investors & Funders

Partners

“We were able to implement most of PUM’s recommendations which have boosted our service efficiency and product quality. We are very grateful for their support and to GroFin for introducing us to their partner PUM”

Gender Lens Investment

US$ 90.6M

210

8,490+

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