News

From January, 31st to February, 3rd, I&P organized a regional meeting in Cotonou, Benin, for a training seminar aimed at strengthening the skills of stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (accelerators, incubators, public and private intermediaries) and thus promote the development of an SME-friendly environment.

We are pleased to share with you the first newsletter of this year 2023, including the latest news from I&P, its partner funds and portfolio. And we'll go into a little more detail about the launch of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, a major initiative for our entire sector.

In this newsletter : 

I&P is pleased to present its Annual Impact Report, that presents the collective results of our different programs and funds.

The report presents an overview of I&P's activities and impact methodology and goes through our six impact pillars : developing Africa entrepreneurship, creating decent jobs, providing SDG-aligned goods and services, promoting women's empowerment, strengthening the local economic fabric and fostering environmentally-friendly development.

The first investment of the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (whose launch was announced last week) goes to Aruwa Capital Management, a gender-lens 20mUSD fund dedicated to Nigeria's SMEs, managed by a first-time woman-led fund manager.

I&P is proud to be part of an innovative and bold initiative for the investment industry in Sub-Saharan Africa: the USD$200 million Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, a Fund of Funds which works through African investment vehicles to support early-stage, growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the continent.

As I&P celebrates its 20th year of activity, the team is pleased to present its "Manifesto for the financing and support of entrepreneurship in Africa.

Based on 20 years of learning, entrepreneurial adventures, successes as well as failures and challenges, this manifesto aims to share with you the five best practices or core approaches that we believe are essential if we want to accomplish our mission to serve African entrepreneurs.

On Thursday, October 20, 2022, the I&P team organized a meeting in Paris to celebrate its 20 years of activity. It was an opportunity to gather around 150 participants, both members and former members of the team, investors, entrepreneurs, early partners and development actors, involved in African entrepreneurship.

Last Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at the Azalaï Hotel in Bamako, I&P in partnership with Zira Capital and the European Union organized an information meeting to present I&P Acceleration in Sahel (IPAS), a program dedicated to young companies in the Sahel sub-region.

After two successful five-year collaborations, Sinergi Burkina, a pioneering impact investment fund in Burkina Faso, is making new equity investments in the companies Palobdé and Bioprotect.