Visa Foundation: Uplifting Women-led Businesses in Africa
As the philanthropic arm of Visa, Visa Foundation works with charitable organizations who aim to support financially underserved micro and small enterprises around the world thrive.
Carl Manlan, Vice President, Inclusive Impact and Sustainability for Visa CEMEA discusses the Foundation’s impact investment strategy and how it supports women-owned SMBs with Najada Kumbuli, Senior Director of Social Impact and Head of Investments at Visa Foundation, and Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founding Partner and CEO of Aruwa Capital Management.
Visa Foundation uses grants and investments to address systemic barriers faced by women entrepreneurs – for example, while women in Africa run 40% of SMBs, they only have access to 1% of venture capital1.
Aruwa Capital Management is the latest recipient of a $4 million investment from Visa Foundation and one of fewer than 10 women-owned and -led private equity firms in Africa. Aruwa aims to bridge the gap between venture capital and private equity for women-owned or -operated businesses, targeting investments in sectors such as healthcare, fintech, renewable energy, and essential consumer goods.
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1 Investing In Africa? Invest In Women, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Forbes, 30 September 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2021/09/30/investing-in-africa-invest-in-women/?sh=48f3b088d097
2 Source of UNDP report in video: Gender gap costs sub-Saharan Africa $95 billion a year: UNDP, Dabanga, 29 August 2016, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/gender-gap-costs-sub-saharan-africa-95-billion-a-year-undp
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