Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund

Africa’s young people are full of talent, ambition, and ideas—but many lack the access to capital and opportunities needed to turn their potential into sustainable businesses and careers. At the Fund, we are unlocking capital for local investment vehicles, supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs, and driving gender-lens investing to ensure that young people—especially women—can access dignified, fulfilling jobs. Our strategy to create 30 million jobs by 2030 is already delivering results. #AfricaGrowthFund #YouthDevelopment #FutureOfWork

Call for Submissions - Deadline Approaching📣 Are you a Kenyan-led organization experienced in transformative gender and inclusion programming? The Mastercard Foundation is seeking a technical partner to support country program partners in deepening young women-centric design approach and transformative inclusion programming practices. Through our Young Africa Works strategy, we aim to enable 7 million young people, 70% being young women, to secure fulfilling work by 2030. This bold target for young women, especially those from rural and marginalized areas, aims to enhance their contribution to Kenya’s and Africa’s economies while unlocking their potential. Reaching the most marginalized young women through gender-transformative programming is essential across the country program portfolios. The selected partner will provide context-specific gender & inclusion support to our country program partners. For more information on how to apply, visit our website here: https://ow.ly/F61050V4wn4 📌 The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2025.

True development means recognizing that people have different starting points. That’s why GDEI is central to our work—ensuring that capital goes to those who can make a lasting impact in their communities. #AfricaGrowthFund #GDEI #InclusiveFinance

Collaboration is key. Through partnerships with DFIs, fund-of-funds initiatives, and local financial institutions, the Fund is building a robust ecosystem for African SMEs to thrive. With support from MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates), Genesis Analytics and other consortium members, we’re driving inclusive growth, boosting job creation, and advancing opportunities for women-led enterprises across the continent. #AfricaGrowthFund #Collaboration #EconomicTransformation

Many SMEs are too large for microfinance but too small for institutional funding. Our focus on patient capital addresses this gap, unlocking sustainable growth for high-potential businesses. #AfricaGrowthFund #SMEs #GrowthCapital

Criterion recently wrapped up a #genderlensinvesting retreat for investment leaders shaping investment towards decent jobs for youth and women on the African continent, as part of their work as gender partner in the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund consortium. Using Criterion’s TOOLKIT framework, participants spent three days evaluating their investment structures and processes, identifying how power dynamics and societal norms inform the current investment landscape. They also gave examples of how the integration of a gender lens into the investment decision-making process and even portfolio company business models has led to increased performance. One fund’s portfolio company working in cold-chain storage for the fishing industry had a low uptake of women customers because they couldn’t get cash up front to purchase the product. They started a paygo option in response, and the ensuing spike in women customers created a chain of recommendations to even more women within the community. "They became lifelong partners who brought in more women from their networks, significantly lowering their customer acquisition costs,” said the fund manager. Participants also gave examples of how they used their power to address inequities in shareholding, representation and safety at work within portfolio companies. Beyond direct investment, investment leaders apply an ecosystem building approach in order to address critical market and value chain needs. “We have been building the ecosystem for girls in tech for the last 18 years and have been running a gender lens incubator/accelerator. We hope to one day build a capital vertical that supports this effort by provision of capital for impact credits as the returns,” one participant said.  Over the coming weeks we will continue to support the Fund’s investment leaders in integrating key take-aways from the retreat. We will also soon be sharing some examples of advanced practices that address gendered power dynamics from our conversations with funds within the broader African ecosystem. (Thank you Agnes Makena for the write-up!) Kazana Fund Chui Ventures Sahara Impact Ventures Five35 Ventures Aruwa Capital Management Janngo.africa VestedWorld Joy Anderson MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) Rugori Investment Network

Africa represents one of the fastest-growing markets for private capital investments, with 85% of investors planning increased allocations in the next two years! Discover how we’re catalyzing these opportunities: https://lnkd.in/djanWuMj #AfricaGrowthFund #PrivateCapital #EconomicDevelopment

This upcoming discussion on gender-smart investing is a crucial step toward closing financing gaps for women entrepreneurs. Don't miss it! #GenderLensInvesting #AfricaGrowthFund #InclusiveFinance

REMINDER: One day left to register! Join MEDA and FinEquity for this exciting webinar on the collaborative learning process used to test and refine indicators for measuring women’s economic empowerment in the financial inclusion sector. Panelists include: 🔹Denisse Chantal Macias Kovacev from BancoSol 🔹Justin Archer from Women's World Banking 🔹Jennifer Morgan from FinEquity, convened by CGAP 🔹AJ Nafziger from MEDA   📅 March 11, 2025, 8:30am-10am EST ➡️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/eumcS4Bt   NGO Committee on the Status of Women (NGO CSW/NY) #NGOCSW69 #WomensEconomicEmpowerment #FinancialInclusion

Companies are adopting impact investing to align with sustainability goals while driving innovation. Explore how corporates are leveraging investments to scale market-based solutions: www.africagrowthfund.org #AfricaGrowthFund #CorporateSustainability #ImpactInvesting