Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI) Signs Warehouse Agreement

Mirepa Investment Advisors’ maiden fund, Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI), which was recently licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana (SEC) as a Private Equity/Venture Capital Fund, has secured catalytic capital of GHS 10M from the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF). The CEO, Mr Samuel Yeboah, and Ms Enyonam Kakane, a Principal and Executive Director of Impact Investing at Mirepa Investment Advisors Ltd. (MIA), signed the warehouse agreement on Wed, 09.11.2022 at the office of VCTF in Accra.

The funds from the warehouse agreement will enable the fund manager, Mirepa Investment Advisors Ltd., to begin investments in pipeline companies while they work towards the initial close for MCSFI. Target sectors for The Fund are agribusiness, education, healthcare, business services (including industrial and mining support), and financial services, with an allocation for strong businesses outside of these sectors. Overarching sector lenses for investments are light manufacturing, technology, and cleantech/climate change mitigation.

Congratulations to the MIA team on achieving this milestone.

Mirepa Team Presents Findings on Available Blended Finance Options

Over the last four (4) months, the Mirepa Team on behalf of SNV Ghana, conducted a market study to assess the availability of blended finance options for co-funding and de-risking mechanisms for GrEEn businesses (Agribusiness, Renewable Energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-WASH) in the Ashanti and Western regions.

The findings of the study were presented by Sandrah Baafi and Esienam Agbenorto to a gathering of ecosystem players at the 3rd edition of the annual GrEEn Investment Forum organized by SNV on Thursday, 3rd November 2022 in the Ashanti region.

The key insights from the study are:

  • 1. Blended finance is still not well understood by both the suppliers and MSMEs.
  • 2. MSMEs access to finance has largely unchanged since 2020 when the initial study was done.
  • 3. Among GrEEn sectors, agriculture remains the dominant target and recipient of blended finance options.
  • 4. The business model of microcredit suppliers generally targets female clientele.
  • 5. Blended finance options like capacity building and portfolio management are less helpful without funding to stimulate MSMEs operations.
  • 6. The terms of available blended finance options are not always favorable.