Mirepa receives SEC approval for fund

This past month Mirepa received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ghana for its fund Mirepa Capital SME Fund I (MCSFI).  This brings the total of locally domiciled Private Equity/Venture Capital funds approved by the regulator to 3 (according to information on its website).

MCSFI is a fund domiciled in Ghana that will provide patient risk capital to early-stage businesses and SMEs that are committed to job creation, sustainable practices (climate impact) and strong participation of women in the workforce. The fund will focus on light manufacturing and technology businesses in sectors that provide basic and essential services (Agribusiness, Education, Financial Services and Healthcare).

The fund is managed by Mirepa Investment Advisors, a SEC regulated investment advisor with the mandate to manage private equity and venture capital funds in Ghana.

The key SDG areas for this fund are:

 

Wear Ghana launches new experience center

Mirepa SME Ventures portfolio company, Wear Ghana, launched a new experience center in Dzorwulu, a suburb of Accra, strategically located off one of the major highways in Accra.  This brings the number of physical locations the company has to two (2).  Although a majority of the company’s business is generated online and via virtual engagement, Wear Ghana finds that the physical experience centers compliments its eCommerce business very well.

Wear Ghana is a well-known brand in Ghana that employs unique infusion of African and contemporary western design to create new categories of apparel lines that appeal to a wide demographic of customers willing to connect to the African identity.  The company is a female-led and owned business that currently employs over 20 women in its workforce while strengthening the livelihoods of many others in its supply chain.

Mirepa SME Ventures (MSV) is a value addition vehicle that supports local businesses by making small investments of USD 10K – USD 100K from Mirepa Capital’s balance sheet.  The team works with dedicated entrepreneurs who run businesses with high growth potential and the ability to scale their products and services across borders.

Mirepa hosts Ashesi Venture Incubator fellows

This past week, members of the Mirepa team, welcomed 6 entrepreneurs/fellows from the Ashesi University Venture Incubator (AVI) to the Investment House (Airport West, Accra).  The Mirepa team supported the AVI fellows to undertake Financial Simulations that would prepare them to become investment ready.

The objective of the Financial simulations was to imitate the process of acquiring funding where fellows presented their pitches to a panel made up of Mirepa team and obtained feedback on their approach to access funds, a great learning process for their businesses to prepare for real world experiences.

According to the Ashesi University website, the AVI is a student-led incubator set up to support student-run businesses by providing them with the resources and funding that they will require in their early stages, in order to grow into fully-fledged companies. Ventures accepted into the incubator can be at any level of maturity, from simple ideas to existing businesses.

Present at the event were members from the Mirepa Capital team, the Mirepa Investment Advisors team as well as Nelly Sai Palm from the Mirepa US team. This initiative is part of a broader effort by Mirepa to help develop and strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Mirepa visits women cooperatives in Northern Ghana

Earlier this month, members of the Mirepa Capital and Mirepa Investment Advisors team visited women producer groups and cooperatives in three regions in northern Ghana.   The membership of these producer groups and cooperatives collectively exceeded over 2000 and formed critical parts of the supply chains of female-led/owned businesses that the Mirepa team is supporting through one of its interventions for a client.

It is heartwarming to know that our interventions go to improve the livelihoods of these women, who work in various agricultural value chains including rice and shea as well as basket production.  Mirepa’s support is a value-chain driven approach that strengthens several supply chains by helping the businesses that source from them to stabilize and scale their operations.  In all 10 female-led/owned businesses that work with these producer groups and cooperatives are being supported by Mirepa.

This value chain approach forms a key part of Mirepa’s gender lens and job creation strategies for its investments.  By investing in businesses using this approach, significantly larger numbers of indirect jobs and livelihoods are impacted.

Mirepa team attends ESCP convening in Dar es Salaam

Two principals of Mirepa Investment Advisors, Samuel Yeboah and Enyonam Kakane, joined over forty other members of the Early Stage Capital Providers (ESCP) network at the annual convening organized by the Collaborative for Frontier Finance (CFF).  The convening which was held in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania brought together local capital providers (LCPs) primarily from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The 2-day gathering provided peer learning opportunities for participating LCPs.  The program also provide the LCPs the chance to interact with investors including some DFIs, foundations and family offices. The convening also provided the venue for the official announcement of FSD Africa’s Investment’s £8 million investment into the Nyala Venture vehicle, a catalytic facility supporting Local Capital Providers to finance Small and Growing Businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

This convening was the second in-person meeting organized by the CFF since its inception.  The 2021 convening was held virtually due to covid-19 restrictions. Both Enyonam and Samuel are part of different working groups of the ESCP, with Samuel being a recent member of the network’s steering group, a role he played for 2 years.

Mirepa selected for FMO Launch Capital Program

Mirepa Investment Advisors (MIA), this month, got accepted to the FMO Capital Launch program being managed by the Collaborative for Frontier Finance (CFF).  The program selected 10 local capital providers (LCPs), emerging fund management teams raising their maiden fund.

According CFF, the program will support the cohort of fund managers through a year-long program of training, mentoring, investment readiness, and linking to investors. The objective of the program is for fund managers to be in a position to present to a select group of institutional investors with an investment-ready proposition by the end. The initiative is funded by FMO.

Mirepa’s investment team, MIA, is made of a very strong balance of principals and analysts with complimentary experience and skill set including private equity track record, enterprise development and support experience, entrepreneurial success as well as strong operations background.  The team expects this program to help it better articulate its track record and identify mission-aligned investors.

Esienam joins Mirepa Investment Advisors team

The Mirepa team welcomed Princess Marie Esienam Agbenorto. Esienam is a licensed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) representative who will be working as an analyst with the Mirepa Investment Advisors team.  In her role, she will be primarily responsible for supporting the finance and back office operations in addition to carrying out the functions of an investment analyst.

Esienam joins the team after obtaining a dual masters degree in International Business and Business Analytics from the Hult International Business School in the UK.  She obtained her undergraduate business degree from the University of Ghana (Legon).

Barbara Ghansah joins Mirepa Investment Advisors board

December 15, 2021

Barbara Ghansah joins the Mirepa Investment Advisors board of directors.  Barbara is a finance professional who brings over 20 years’ experience in the banking, management consulting and impact investment (particularly agricultural financing) industries. She has worked extensively with SMEs, particularly with agribusinesses in Ghana and other West African countries.

She is very well known in Ghana’s agribusiness sector and has worked collaboratively with several agricultural support organisations, programs and projects, including Ghana’s Ministry of Agriculture, USAID’s FinGAP and ADVANCE, UKAID’s MADE, Technoserve and AGRA.  She holds a Masters of Arts in Economic Policy Management, University of Ghana.

Barbara’s addition to the Mirepa Investment Advisors board reinforces the company’s commitment to excellence in SME investing as well as our gender lens investment strategy.

Ruka Sanusi and Grace Anim-Yeboah join board

This month, Mirepa Investment Advisors was privileged to have two very accomplished ladies in the enterprise development and financing space join its board. Grace Anim-Yeboah and Ruka Sanusi, both share Mirepa’s mission of driving social economic gains through effective and sustainable enterprise development.

Grace is the Business Banking Director at Absa Ghana and Ruka is the Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Center. The two collectively have over 45 years experience in the banking, consulting/advisory as well as SME support and financing in Africa.