Trade Finance
Allocation Guideline
20%
Type
Credit
Tenor
Less than 360 days.
Security and Risk Management
Secured by underlying goods and commodities
Purpose
Aims to bridge the financing gap by providing short-term credit and liquidity to support inter- and intra- African Trade.
Why Trade Finance?
Inadequate access to trade finance remains a major hurdle for African businesses.
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Notably, 80–90% of African businesses are SMEs, yet banks’ trade finance portfolios are heavily skewed to larger firms or overseas trade, so they face difficulty obtaining the short-term financing.
Factors like stringent global banking regulations, high collateral requirements, and perceived risk have led to underserved trade finance demand.
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Theme Strategy
Supply Chain Finance & Working Capital
Providing working capital loans, invoice financing, and supply chain finance facilities to creditworthy African exporters and importers.
Enhance Letters of Credit
Underwriting/Providing collateral for trade finance instruments such as letters of credit (LCs), performance guarantees, and trade credit insurance in partnership with banks (including Premier Bank).
Focus on Intra-African Trade (AfCFTA)
Prioritizing financing for transactions between African countries, in line with AfCFTA goals. This includes funding trade of commodities, manufactured goods, and services within Africa
Flexible & Rapid Financing
Maintaining a streamlined credit approval process to provide quick turnaround trade loans.
Value Proposition
Low-default, self-liquidating
Low-default, self-liquidating asset class as transactions are short-term and often backed by goods or receivables.
Moderate but steady returns
Moderate but steady returns resulting from interest and fees revenues with low correlation to other asset classes.
Huge market and high growth potential
Huge market and high growth potential with further widening market gap resulting from retreat of international banks.
Unique access to Premier Bank
Unique access to Premier Bank Trade Finance operations for syndication and sourcing
Project Preparation
Allocation Guidelines
10% of AUM to support high potential projects to attain bankability
Type
Credit
Tenor
2-3 years.
Security and Risk Management
Initial project viability assessment and blended finance structures
Purpose
Catalytic in nature to fund feasibility studies and project development costs of high potential trade enabling infrastructure projects to attain bankability for potential follow up financing under the Food and Energy Security themes
Why the Project Preparation?
The current infrastructure investment gap in Africa of $90 billion persists not only due to funding constraints but also because many proposed projects fail to reach bankability.
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Key feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments, technical designs, and financial structuring are often not done to the standards investors require.
Institutions like Afreximbank, AfDB and Africa50 have recognised and put project preparation facilities in place; however, there is an excess demand for risk capital in the project development phase to unlock more infrastructure financing.
Theme Strategy
Seed Funding for Feasibility & Design
Providing capital for feasibility studies, environmental assessments, engineering designs, and legal structuring to complete business risk mitigation plan, ready for investment committees and lenders.
Technical Advisory & Management
Actively guide project sponsors through the preparation process from hiring consultant to structure projects and obtaining permits.
Pipeline Curation – High Priority Projects
The fund will target projects aligned with national and regional development plans in high priority sectors, with the likelihood of government support and eventual investor interest.
Exit Strategies & Recycling Capital
On attaining bankability, selling the project rights or equity to long-term infrastructure investors or retaining carried interest in future financing rounds. Returns reinvested in new projects.
Value Proposition
Higher returns with venture-style risk
Bankable projects yield high returns in the form of development equity at low cost, which can be sold at a premium.
Availability of syndication network and other derisking instruments
Co-funding of project preparation from multilateral institutions, private funds through blending facilities or guarantee instruments further mitigate risk.
Huge Economic and Social Impact
Huge economic and social impact accelerating project preparation is essential to drive Africa’s growth and improvement of standard of living of local and regional communities
Food Security
Allocation Guidelines
20% of AUM to fund agribusinesses and food supply chains to foster food security and self sufficiency
Type
Credit
Tenor
Less than 3-5 years
Security and Risk Management
Seniority, guarantees, off-take agreements, revenue and debt servicing accounts, debt covenant ratios
Purpose
Address food security, foster self-sufficiency, reducing imports of food by investing across the entire agricultural value chain
Why Food Security?
Over 20% of Africa’s population (approx. 257 million people) is undernourished, reflecting the continent’s worsening food security crisis, even though Africa has 60% of world uncultivated arable land.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) projects Africa’s food and agribusiness market could increase from about $280 billion today to $1 trillion by 2030.
There is an estimated $65 billion annual financing shortfall for African agricultural SMEs, resulting in low use of modern inputs, high post-harvest losses (over 30% of food produced is lost before reaching consumers) and reliance on imports for staples.
Theme Strategy
Primary Agriculture & Irrigation
Investing in large-scale farms, irrigation systems, fertilizers, seeds, and relevant technology to increase output of high-value crops and ensure yield resilience.
Food Processing & Storage
Financing grain silos, cold storage facilities, food processing plants, and logistics networks to reduce post-harvest losses and add value locally. Improved storage and processing will directly tackle the 30–40% food loss issue in africa, making more food available and affordable.
Agri-Tech and Agri-Finance
Supporting agri-tech startups and platforms and partnering with financial institutions to extend credit and insurance to farmers. By improving farmers’ access to credit and technology, the fund enables smallholders to scale up production, purchase quality inputs, and access markets.
Value Proposition
Strong returns
Rising food demand (driven by population growth and urbanization) provides a robust revenue outlook for the sector
Alignment with government
Improved food security also aligns with government priorities, potentially attracting co-investment from development finance institutions (DFIs) and enabling risk mitigation (e.g. partial guarantees).
Growing regional market
The fund’s investments will benefit from growing regional trade in agricultural goods as Africa harmonizes markets.
Energy Security
Allocation Guidelines
60% of AUM to make energy affordable energy and fuel industrial growth
Type
Credit
Tenor
3-5 years.
Security and Risk Management
Seniority, guarantees, PPAs, blended finance structures, revenue and debt servicing accounts, debt covenant ratios
Purpose
Mobilise capital into power projects that ensure access to affordable and reliable energy to industrial growth
Why Energy Security?
Over 600 million people in Africa live without electricity and even those with access often endure unreliable supply and high costs.
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Some countries see 60 to 140 days of power disruption per year which significantly affects business, stifles economic growth, industrialization, education, and healthcare delivery, thus underscoring the need for reliable energy infrastructure.
Besides its natural sources of energy, Africa holds abundant renewable resources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal) which have remained largely untapped due to barriers such as high upfront costs and lack of grid infrastructure.
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Theme Strategy
Oil & Gas value chain and infrastructure
Sourcing and co-investing in near producing or producing assets, storage, transportation and distribution infrastructure, which are distressed, opportunistic and strategic in nature.
Renewable Energy Generation
Sourcing and Co-Financing utility-scale solar farms, wind parks, hydroelectric plants, and geothermal projects across Africa, which are distressed, opportunistic and strategic in nature.
Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure
Supporting projects that upgrade power grids, reduce transmission losses, and improve cross-border energy trade, as well as smart grid technology to improve efficiency.
Flexible & Rapid Financing
Maintaining a streamlined credit approval process to provide quick turnaround trade loans.
Value Proposition
High growth potential
Very high market demand for power producers as population and industrial demand rises
Steady and long-term cash
Steady and long-term cash flow through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)
Attractive IRR
Attractive IRR by building a diversified portfolio of energy assets – balancing higher-risk developmental projects with mature brownfield opportunities – to capture the upside of closing Africa’s energy gap.