Our Investment Approach

AGI Africa was designed to address a vital funding gap in West African frontier markets, catalyzing growth and innovation
through investments in best-in-class regional enterprises and opportunities.

We believe in a hands-on, active investment approach. Our goal is to work closely with portfolio companies to bring cutting-edge, innovative ideas to life and drive growth. Before making any investment, we collaborate with the entrepreneurs to understand how AGI Africa can bring more than just financial support to the table

We call this the “AGI Advantage.”

Driven by Impact

We use an internally developed ESG and Impact Framework that is aligned with IFC standards throughout our investment process. The five stages are:

  1. Identify: using the Global Impact Investing Network’s IRIS+ database, we identify each company’s impact priorities, strategic goals, and trackable metrics

  2. Evaluate: investments are evaluated in due diligence according to the UN PRI’s five dimensions of impact. Metrics are assessed based on current performance, projected performance, and projected performance after our investment.

  3. Implement: we work with our ESG Counsel to implement clauses into our investment agreements that ensure our investees are actively working towards their impact targets.

  4. Monitor: companies are required to monitor and report on the agreed-upon impact metrics on a quarterly basis. We utilize an ESG data collection platform to enable companies to report performance regularly and uniformly.

  5. Report: we publish a portfolio-wide impact report bi-annually, leveraging the impact performance data we collect from portfolio companies.

Differentiation

  • Catalytic Capital

    We invest in underserved segments, targeting SMEs that generate high impact. Our ECOWAS and Mano River Union focus provides the opportunity to accelerate growth in a fast-growing region.

  • Climate Action

    We invest with a climate focus, committing a sizable percentage of our allocations to climate companies in line with guidelines set by the International Climate Finance Accelerator.

  • Gender Lens

    We leveraged the IFC and BII’s “Gender Smart Investing Guide for Fund Managers” to develop our internal gender-lens strategy that is incorporated into our investment sourcing and due diligence processes.