Over the past 10 years in east Africa, and particularly in Kenya, there has been an explosion of interest in impact investing and its more commercially-minded cousin private equity. Coming out of the compelling ‘Africa Rising’ narrative, an estimated $600 million of impact investments have been made in Kenya in the last decade, with a similar amount planned for the next five years, albeit a fraction of the estimated $2.6 billion raised by private equity firms for the region over the same period.
In tapping into this inexorable interest, we, in collaboration with the Lundin Foundation, have developed the Turkana Catalyst Initiative through the Kenya Extractives Programme (K-EXPRO) since 2017. The Turkana Catalyst Initiative is an innovative business accelerator and seed financing programme that works as a feeder fund for impact investors focused on northern Kenya. Donor supportcan usefully bridge a capacity and financing gap for emerging businesses, including social enterprises, and help them …