Investors

Who we are

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

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.

Business Operations

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

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.

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 Fund

“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 Foundation

“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 Foundation

“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 Capital

“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 Foundation

“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.”

Norfund

“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.”

KfW

“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

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.

Obado Obadoh (Founder, Café Deli) - GroFin Kenya Client

“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.

Gender Lens Investment
Amount Invested

US$ 90.6M

Amount invested

Women-owned & managed businesses invested in

210

Women-owned & managed businesses invested in

Direct women jobs sustained

8,490+

Direct women jobs sustained

(Figures as at 31 December 2021)