Three African investment firms have been selected to take part in the Capria Edge Plus programme, built to advance fund managers across eight areas of fund management and capacity building.
Capria’s Edge Plus programme is a fund manager advancement service delivered through the Capria Edge platform and backed by Capria’s senior partners.
The programme will provide an holistic view of a fund manager’s strengths and development areas across eight categories, ranging from fundraising to portfolio management to driving exits. Based on identified needs, Capria’s partners provide one-on-one coaching to programme participants and offer access to digital resources for self-paced advancement in the most important areas.
The current Edge Plus cohort is sponsored by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and was selected after a broad outreach. After more than 70 applications were received, seven were selected to take part.
Three of those are from Africa. They are Kinaya Ventures, a Dakar and Abidjan based innovation platform that connects startups to large corporations and investors; Griot Holdings, a pan-African private equity fund focused on SMEs in the industrials sector and investing in Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia; and Kenya Climate Ventures, an investment management company that seeks to accelerate the development of climate smart solutions.
The other four firms selected for the programme are all Asia-focused, namely Ironwood Capital Partners, One to Watch, AV Frontiers and SBK Ventures.
“We are truly excited to give fund managers the space to engage freely with like-minded qualified peers, while they work together to advance their fund management capabilities as individuals and as a group. Upon completing the roughly six-month programme, fund managers will have a roadmap to grow and institutionalise their impact investment firm, armed with the right tools to enhance their financial and impact returns,” said Nicolae Florin Dorlea, analyst at Capria.