Africa-Press – Botswana. Aruwa Capital Management, a female-led private equity firm in Lagos, has secured $35 million in the second close of its gender-focused fund, Aruwa Capital Fund II. The fund seeks to address the early-stage financing gap for women-led and gender-diverse enterprises in Nigeria and Ghana.
The recent funding round drew investments from major institutions such as British International Investment (BII), which invested $5 million, Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, Visa Foundation, and EDFI Management Company via the EU’s Electrification Financing Initiative. Significantly, Nigeria’s Bank of Industry became the fund’s first local institutional investor.
With this funding round, Aruwa Capital Fund II has achieved 90% of its $40 million goal, exceeding the $20 million final close of its first fund in 2022. The firm is exploring raising the target to $50 million, with a hard cap of $60 million planned for later this year.
Founded in 2019 by Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Aruwa Capital Management draws on her more than ten years of investment banking and private equity experience at top global firms like J.P. Morgan. She launched Aruwa to tackle the funding gap faced by women-led businesses in Africa.
The fund targets key sectors vital to inclusive economic growth—healthcare, energy access, financial services, and consumer goods—investing between $500,000 and $2.5 million in women-led small and growing businesses.
Aruwa Capital Fund II has made two investments so far: Yikodeen, a local industrial safety boot manufacturer, and Toasties, a rapidly expanding casual dining chain.
Aruwa’s first fund showed strong impact, with portfolio companies growing revenues 22-fold in local currency and attracting follow-on investments at valuations about seven times higher than Aruwa’s initial entry. Together, both funds have supported over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, with 73% of companies founded or led by women.
Aruwa Capital earned the “Impact Investor of the Year 2023” and the 2023 2X Global Woman Manager of the Year awards in recognition of its work. As it advances gender-lens investing in West Africa, the firm stays dedicated to promoting inclusive economic growth and empowering women entrepreneurs across Africa.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
