NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 17 – Investment management firm Kuramo Capital has announced that it will be investing Sh22 billion ($150 million) into Kenyan and African women-led businesses in the next 10 years.
The initiative will be implemented under the Orem Platform, which empowers the next generation of African women entrepreneurs and promotes gender-equitable fund management.
It will involve three areas: an accelerator programme, a warehousing and lending facility, and a fund of funds.
At the same time, the firm has unveiled the first cohort of the accelerator programme, which also serves as a mentorship, capacity-building, and technical assistance platform.
It targets 40 female entrepreneurs and fund managers annually.
“We believe that, just as we were able to address gaps with African GPs (fund managers) in the past, we can achieve a similarly catalytic impact with our gender lens initiative,” Kuramo CEO and Founder Wale Adeosun said.
Besides, the accelerator programme will also offer a structured curriculum for capacity building, technical assistance, and mentoring for women in business, addressing the knowledge gap, particularly for female fund managers in Africa.
“Our goal is to address this barrier and improve the ecosystem by supporting female-led African private equity and venture capital funds,” added Moremi Fund Managing Director Sarah Ngamau.
Kuramo was established in 2011 and has since mobilised over $3.5 billion (Ksh 73.8 billion) to support over 200 companies and create over 50,000 jobs in Africa.
The firm focuses on creating long-term capital value to facilitate the sustainable growth of businesses across diverse sectors of the economy.
