Deal Source Africa, a comprehensive programme to connect African businesses with investors and transaction advisors as well as African Impact Funds with investors, was launched on Tuesday at the West Africa Deal Summit event held in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
The Platform is meant to serve as the channel for bridging the $331 billion funding gap for African small and medium enterprises, particularly, those businesses with high growth potential by offering curated solutions that meet their needs.
The organisers said that businesses and funds can sign up at https://dealsourceafrica.co/ to access the platform which was developed with funding from the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund of UKAid and piloted in 2022.
“Deal Source Africa comprises a digital platform that connects investors with businesses, in-person and virtual Deal Rooms where businesses can meet investors, and Impact Fund Showcases where investors can meet African venture funds and other local capital providers.
“Experienced transaction advisors are connected with businesses to provide professional support along their fundraising journey. The platform’s Deal Officers facilitate connections with investors,” Impact Investing Ghana, and the Nigeria National Advisory Board for Impact Investing (Nigeria NABII), the organisers of the platform, announced after the event on Tuesday.
Amma Lartey, CEO of Impact Investing Ghana, and Etemore Glover, CEO of the Nigeria National Advisory Board for Impact Investing (Nigeria NABII) were impressed with the launch of the deal facilitating platform.
“The research is clear that growing SMEs can significantly accelerate the achievement of the SDGs and that creating more efficient connections between businesses, local funds, and limited partners could help deploy more appropriate patient capital. Innovative platforms like Deal Source Africa, built and tested with its users can therefore greatly accelerate the closing of the SME financing gap,” Amma Lartey, said.
In her assessment, Etemore Glover, said that the deal platform has the potential to become an enabler of facilitating local capital to businesses across the African landscape.
She said: “Deal Source Africa has the potential to become a significant enabler of financing for businesses and local capital providers across Africa. We are excited to be able to collaborate with IIGh on this initiative and to see it grow across Africa through our partners in other countries.”
She added that across the African continent, a platform such as Deal Source Africa was needed with strong local partners to fill the financing gap facing African businesses.
According to Justina Mensah, who leads the Deal Source Africa programme, during the pilot phase, the platform successfully enabled 94 businesses to connect with 18 investors in Deal Rooms and connected 45 businesses to transaction advisors for one-on-one support leading to three investments being finalised.
Further, Mensah called on African businesses who are looking to raise financing, venture funds, and other local capital providers to sign up at https://dealsourceafrica.co/.
Impact Investing Ghana (IIGh) is the Ghana National Advisory Board for Impact Investing. It is an independent private-sector-led initiative promoting sustainable development and advancing the development of the impact investment ecosystem in Ghana. IIGh is Ghana’s representative to the Global Steering Group (GSG) for Impact Investing, the successor to the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established by the G8.
IIGh has an ambitious plan to support the growth of impact ventures and to catalyse $1 billion in impact funds for investment in impact ventures in Ghana and the West African sub-region. Find more here www.impactinvestinggh.org.
The National Advisory Board for Impact Investing (NABII) is a cross-section of influential leaders consisting of people and organizations united in purpose to grow impact investing in Nigeria and saddled with the task of accelerating and shaping the impact investing ecosystem in Nigeria.
