Alitheia IDF is a $100 million private equity fund that aims to grow African SMEs through gender-balanced businesses.
According to a report from Africa’s The Big Deal, female-led start-ups in Africa had raised 4% funding in 2022, while male-led ventures raised 96%.
Therefore, 25 times less funding had been invested in female-led startups in 2022 than their male-led counterparts.
Alitheia IDF aims to identify, invest in and grow businesses led by gender-diverse teams to achieve solid financial returns and social impact for African communities.
Alitheia IDF
The Alitheia IDF invests in six African countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.
They invest in sectors that engage a significant percentage of women, either as entrepreneurs, producers, distributors or consumers.
Co-founder of Alitheia IDF, Tokunboh Ishmael, told TechCrunch that full deployment of the fund is expected next year, with plans for another fund to double down on “gender-lens” investing.
She added that due to a poor representation of women in boardrooms and management, she felt they could diversify capital and address the issue.
“We sought to address the imbalance in capital to founders, as well as the representation in senior boardroom positions and management,” said Ishmael.
All eight businesses currently supported by the fund are not all by women founders due to the fund also focusing on companies that have an impact on women.
What does IDF offer?
The women-led fund prioritizes growth-stage companies with gender-diversified management teams with a vision to scale regionally and drive economic and social transformation.
The process consists of a partnership between the firm and the management or founders to grow their companies alongside financing, mentorship, strategic growth and access to markets and talents.
Ishmael confirmed they aim to back ten to 12 businesses with this fund as it helps them think of how to push for suitable types of products and governance.
