Mirepa Investment Advisors Announces Initial Close of MCSFI

Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI) has reached an Initial Close after securing funds from local institutions, including the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Petra Trust, Axis Pensions, and CAL Asset Management Company Limited (CAMCOL). The fund was launched on Thursday, 27th July at the ENSafrica office in Cantonments, Accra. 

The Fund is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Ghana and focuses on light manufacturing, technology, and cleantech businesses within the following sectors: agribusiness (emphasis on agro-processing), education, healthcare, financial services, and business services (including industrial and mining support).

Mirepa Investment Advisors is dedicated to making a positive impact through MCSFI investments, and will actively seek opportunities to support and empower portfolio businesses to be inclusive and female-friendly. The Fund will play a crucial role in creating jobs, driving economic prosperity, and fostering sustainable development in Ghana by investing in high-growth SMEs

Mirepa Investment Advisors is grateful for the trust and support shown by its investors and looks forward to working closely with Ghana’s SMEs to create a lasting impact on the nation’s economic landscape.

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Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI) Signs Warehouse Agreement

Mirepa Investment Advisors’ maiden fund, Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI), which was recently licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana (SEC) as a Private Equity/Venture Capital Fund, has secured catalytic capital of GHS 10M from the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF). The CEO, Mr Samuel Yeboah, and Ms Enyonam Kakane, a Principal and Executive Director of Impact Investing at Mirepa Investment Advisors Ltd. (MIA), signed the warehouse agreement on Wed, 09.11.2022 at the office of VCTF in Accra.

The funds from the warehouse agreement will enable the fund manager, Mirepa Investment Advisors Ltd., to begin investments in pipeline companies while they work towards the initial close for MCSFI. Target sectors for The Fund are agribusiness, education, healthcare, business services (including industrial and mining support), and financial services, with an allocation for strong businesses outside of these sectors. Overarching sector lenses for investments are light manufacturing, technology, and cleantech/climate change mitigation.

Congratulations to the MIA team on achieving this milestone.

Mirepa Team Presents Findings on Available Blended Finance Options

Over the last four (4) months, the Mirepa Team on behalf of SNV Ghana, conducted a market study to assess the availability of blended finance options for co-funding and de-risking mechanisms for GrEEn businesses (Agribusiness, Renewable Energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-WASH) in the Ashanti and Western regions.

The findings of the study were presented by Sandrah Baafi and Esienam Agbenorto to a gathering of ecosystem players at the 3rd edition of the annual GrEEn Investment Forum organized by SNV on Thursday, 3rd November 2022 in the Ashanti region.

The key insights from the study are:

  • 1. Blended finance is still not well understood by both the suppliers and MSMEs.
  • 2. MSMEs access to finance has largely unchanged since 2020 when the initial study was done.
  • 3. Among GrEEn sectors, agriculture remains the dominant target and recipient of blended finance options.
  • 4. The business model of microcredit suppliers generally targets female clientele.
  • 5. Blended finance options like capacity building and portfolio management are less helpful without funding to stimulate MSMEs operations.
  • 6. The terms of available blended finance options are not always favorable.

Mirepa receives SEC approval for fund

This past month Mirepa received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ghana for its fund Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI).  This brings the total of locally domiciled Private Equity/Venture Capital funds approved by the regulator to 3 (according to information on its website).

MCSFI is a fund domiciled in Ghana that will provide patient risk capital to early-stage businesses and SMEs that are committed to job creation, sustainable practices (climate impact) and strong participation of women in the workforce. The fund will focus on light manufacturing and technology businesses in sectors that provide basic and essential services (Agribusiness, Education, Financial Services and Healthcare).

The fund is managed by Mirepa Investment Advisors, a SEC regulated investment advisor with the mandate to manage private equity and venture capital funds in Ghana.

The key SDG areas for this fund are:

 

Wear Ghana launches new experience center

Mirepa SME Ventures portfolio company, Wear Ghana, launched a new experience center in Dzorwulu, a suburb of Accra, strategically located off one of the major highways in Accra.  This brings the number of physical locations the company has to two (2).  Although a majority of the company’s business is generated online and via virtual engagement, Wear Ghana finds that the physical experience centers compliments its eCommerce business very well.

Wear Ghana is a well-known brand in Ghana that employs unique infusion of African and contemporary western design to create new categories of apparel lines that appeal to a wide demographic of customers willing to connect to the African identity.  The company is a female-led and owned business that currently employs over 20 women in its workforce while strengthening the livelihoods of many others in its supply chain.

Mirepa SME Ventures (MSV) is a value addition vehicle that supports local businesses by making small investments of USD 10K – USD 100K from Mirepa Capital’s balance sheet.  The team works with dedicated entrepreneurs who run businesses with high growth potential and the ability to scale their products and services across borders.

Mirepa hosts Ashesi Venture Incubator fellows

This past week, members of the Mirepa team, welcomed 6 entrepreneurs/fellows from the Ashesi University Venture Incubator (AVI) to the Investment House (Airport West, Accra).  The Mirepa team supported the AVI fellows to undertake Financial Simulations that would prepare them to become investment ready.

The objective of the Financial simulations was to imitate the process of acquiring funding where fellows presented their pitches to a panel made up of Mirepa team and obtained feedback on their approach to access funds, a great learning process for their businesses to prepare for real world experiences.

According to the Ashesi University website, the AVI is a student-led incubator set up to support student-run businesses by providing them with the resources and funding that they will require in their early stages, in order to grow into fully-fledged companies. Ventures accepted into the incubator can be at any level of maturity, from simple ideas to existing businesses.

Present at the event were members from the Mirepa Capital team, the Mirepa Investment Advisors team as well as Nelly Sai Palm from the Mirepa US team. This initiative is part of a broader effort by Mirepa to help develop and strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Mirepa visits women cooperatives in Northern Ghana

Earlier this month, members of the Mirepa Capital and Mirepa Investment Advisors team visited women producer groups and cooperatives in three regions in northern Ghana.   The membership of these producer groups and cooperatives collectively exceeded over 2000 and formed critical parts of the supply chains of female-led/owned businesses that the Mirepa team is supporting through one of its interventions for a client.

It is heartwarming to know that our interventions go to improve the livelihoods of these women, who work in various agricultural value chains including rice and shea as well as basket production.  Mirepa’s support is a value-chain driven approach that strengthens several supply chains by helping the businesses that source from them to stabilize and scale their operations.  In all 10 female-led/owned businesses that work with these producer groups and cooperatives are being supported by Mirepa.

This value chain approach forms a key part of Mirepa’s gender lens and job creation strategies for its investments.  By investing in businesses using this approach, significantly larger numbers of indirect jobs and livelihoods are impacted.

Mirepa team attends ESCP convening in Dar es Salaam

Two principals of Mirepa Investment Advisors, Samuel Yeboah and Enyonam Kakane, joined over forty other members of the Early Stage Capital Providers (ESCP) network at the annual convening organized by the Collaborative for Frontier Finance (CFF).  The convening which was held in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania brought together local capital providers (LCPs) primarily from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The 2-day gathering provided peer learning opportunities for participating LCPs.  The program also provide the LCPs the chance to interact with investors including some DFIs, foundations and family offices. The convening also provided the venue for the official announcement of FSD Africa’s Investment’s £8 million investment into the Nyala Venture vehicle, a catalytic facility supporting Local Capital Providers to finance Small and Growing Businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

This convening was the second in-person meeting organized by the CFF since its inception.  The 2021 convening was held virtually due to covid-19 restrictions. Both Enyonam and Samuel are part of different working groups of the ESCP, with Samuel being a recent member of the network’s steering group, a role he played for 2 years.

Mirepa Investment Advisors receives SEC license

Mirepa Investment Advisors (MIA) received approval for its Investment Advisory (IA) License from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ghana this past month.  The license was issued by the regulator to MIA specifically to carry out the business of managing private equity and venture capital funds.

The IA license is currently the first step in the regulatory process to being authorized to manage a private fund in Ghana.  The next step for MIA is to file for approval from the SEC for the respective funds it wants to manage.  The SEC license and approvals allows MIA to manage locally domiciled funds that source capital from local institutional investors such as the pension funds.

Mirepa selected for FMO Launch Capital Program

Mirepa Investment Advisors (MIA), this month, got accepted to the FMO Capital Launch program being managed by the Collaborative for Frontier Finance (CFF).  The program selected 10 local capital providers (LCPs), emerging fund management teams raising their maiden fund.

According CFF, the program will support the cohort of fund managers through a year-long program of training, mentoring, investment readiness, and linking to investors. The objective of the program is for fund managers to be in a position to present to a select group of institutional investors with an investment-ready proposition by the end. The initiative is funded by FMO.

Mirepa’s investment team, MIA, is made of a very strong balance of principals and analysts with complimentary experience and skill set including private equity track record, enterprise development and support experience, entrepreneurial success as well as strong operations background.  The team expects this program to help it better articulate its track record and identify mission-aligned investors.