GroFin Africa chief executive, Guido Boysen (left) at a past conference in Nairobi.
Barely a fortnight after it announced a growth in the funds it is managing, small and medium-sized enterprises financier, GroFin, has embarked on bolstering its operations in sub-Saharan Africa.
The East African region is the first to benefit from these efforts; operations in Tanzania are being strengthened with the appointment of a new managing director and relocation of its offices.
“We plan to invest part of these funds into more businesses in East Africa,” the firm’s spokesperson, Amy Heydenrych said.
The firm has appointed Emmanuel Elisante to head its operations in Tanzania.
GroFin, which recently announced that an additional $63 million had been injected into its purse, is also eyeing a new location on the continent — Zambia.
The firm also intends to launch new offices in Jordan; in addition to a regional office serving the United Arab Emirates.
At the moment it has bases in 13 offices across 10 countries. In East Africa, GroFin has offices in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
Elsewhere in the continent, it has bases in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa; whereas further afield it has a presence in Oman and Bahrain.
With the additional injection, GroFin now has $323 million in funds under management, up from $260 million.
It runs seven funds: GroFin Africa Fund, Aspire Nigeria Fund, Intilaqaah Enterprise Fund, GroFin East Africa Fund, Bank Co-Investment East Africa, and Empowerment Through Energy Fund.
The firm targets small and medium-sized enterprises that are starting or growing and are in need of financing of between $50,000 and $1.5 million.
Chief executive officer GroFin Middle East and North Africa, Mohamed Toki said that they cater for small and medium-sized enterprises, which find themselves in the “missing middle” where they lack the collateral required for traditional secured lending, are too small for private equity, but too large for micro-finance.
“Entrepreneurs and businesses in this sector are underserviced with few capable partners offering the combination of risk finance, experienced business support, and market linkages required to succeed,” Mr Toki adds.
However, the newly appointed Tanzania general manager, Mr Elisante, adds that from years of experience in multiple African markets and different sectors, his firm, which was established in 2004, has learnt that businesses require more than just finance to succeed.
“We have found that the greatest tool to a company’s success in business expertise. While finance can instantly introduce the equipment, vehicles, working capital or property needed for a business to start or to grow, business support helps to address some of the underlying factors that can cause an entrepreneur to fail or succeed,” he argues.
So far, GroFin has an investment portfolio of 300 transactions globally.
Like many other fund managers focussed on the continent, GroFin counts development finance institutions among its investors.
For its specialist funds, it also has private sector investors such as Shell and Bank of Africa.
