MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Facilitates $2.5m in Lending for Enable Capital to Support SMEs Building Internet Infrastructure in South Africa 

The African firm Verdant Capital recently opened a revolving credit facility of USD 2.5 million for South Africa’s Enable Capital, which funds small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that build fiber telecommunications infrastructure, especially outside of wealthy areas.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Patasente Agricultural Trading Platform Accesses Credit Line Via Verdant Capital for Onlending, Invoice Discounting in Uganda

Mauritius-based Verdant Capital, a corporate finance firm, recently facilitated a revolving credit account for Patasente, a Ugandan firm operating a digital trading platform for actors in agricultural value chains. The new facility will fund

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund Lending $9m to LOLC to Finance MSMEs in Africa

The German subsidiary of Verdant Capital recently agreed to lend USD 9 million from the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund to support subsidiaries of Sri Lanka’s Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) Holdings that offer savings and loans in Africa. These institutions, which serve Democratic Republic of Congo,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mogo Kenya Borrowing $7m from Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund to Boost Vehicle Ownership

Mauritius-based Verdant Capital recently announced that it will lend USD 7 million from its Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund to Mogo Kenya, a subsidiary of Latvia-based Eleving Group, to fund two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles – some powered by electricity – for self-employed taxi and delivery drivers. The loan is structured in two tranches,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: In 1st Disbursement, Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund Loans $7m to Watu Credit Uganda to Expand Vehicle Financing

Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm, recently issued subordinated debt in the amount of USD 7 million to Watu Credit Uganda, an affiliate of Kenya’s Watu Credit, which funds vehicles and mobile phones in six African countries. While Watu also funds smartphones, tuk tuks (three-wheelers) and cars,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund Closes with $34m from KfW to Invest in Microfinance, SME Lenders in Africa

Verdant Capital, an African corporate finance firm, recently announced the first close of its Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund (VCHF), with USD 36 million in public and private commitments. Verdant will deploy investments from VCHF to support funders of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Its goals are the “creation of employment and income generation” in keeping with “high

SPECIAL REPORT: One Size Does Not Fit All – Restructuring for Uncertain Times, from Verdant Capital

This sponsored content was written by Edmund Higenbottam and Patrick Ball, who serve, respectively, as the Managing Director and a Director of Verdant Capital. Verdant Capital is a leading specialist financial advisory firm that operates across Africa.

A Time for a Change in Direction?combination of factors is challenging the economic sustainability of financial institutions and other businesses large and small across Africa. Globally, the COVID-19 crisis and associated lockdowns have had the effect of “calling the end of a long bull market” that has run since the credit crisis of 2008. In most African markets, however, the bull market had already ended some years before the pandemic. Instead, in Africa, the pandemic has compounded previously existing difficulties, such as weaker commodity prices, sovereign credit challenges, volatile exchange rates and uncertain public policy regimes. Despite some differences, there are many com­monalities among the issues facing traditional banks, microfinance institutions and operating companies. From an investment

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Raises $7m in Debt for Ferme Agro-Pastorale Jambo – Farmer, Miller of Maize Flour in DRC

Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm operating across Africa, recently informed MicroCapital that it has raised loan funds totaling USD 7 million for Ferme Agro-Pastorale Jambo, which grows and mills maize flour in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The identities of the investors remains confidential. In March 2018, Ferme Jambo brought Jambo Breakfast Meal to market in the Greater Katanga region, where 70 percent of flour is

SPECIAL REPORT: Verdant Capital: Hybrid Capital Solutions to Support the Next Phase of Inclusive Growth

This sponsored content was written by Edmund Higenbottam, Managing Director of Verdant Capital, and Raj Domun, Director and Fund Manager of the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund. Verdant Capital is a leading specialist financial advisory firm that operates on a pan-African basis.

In recent years, the Inclusive Financial Institution sector has grown significantly in Africa and elsewhere, driven in part by growth in the global specialist investor base supporting the sector, and in part due to the growth of local debt markets. In Africa, this growth has stretched the equity capital bases of many institutions – and of the sector as a whole – due to the

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Raises $7.5m in Debt Financing for Retail Capital for Merchant Cash Advances to South African SMEs

Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm operating in Africa, recently raised local currency totaling the equivalent of USD 7.5 million from unspecified international investors for South Africa’s Retail Capital to expand its merchant cash advance business. Retail lends to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make repayments on the loans daily, based on

SPECIAL REPORT: “Aadhaar: Lessons for the African Continent?”, by Edmund Higenbottam of Verdant Capital

In 2009, India launched the world’s largest IT project, i.e. the Aadhaar biometric identification program. The program is intended to drive social and financial inclusion, reform public-sector service delivery, improve fiscal management, increase convenience, etc. An Aadhaar number can be viewed as a permanent financial address. Considering that almost the entire Indian population is now enrolled in Aadhaar – the underprivileged as well as the rich – it also can be viewed as a tool for justice and equality.

The program consists of

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Arranges $3m Revolving Credit Facility for Zambia’s Pan African Building Society (PABS)

Verdant Capital, a corporate finance firm serving Africa, recently informed MicroCapital that it has arranged a revolving credit facility in the amount of USD 3 million for the Pan African Building Society (PABS), a deposit-taking, non-banking financial institution operating in Zambia.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later, Mastercard Partner on Buy Now / Pay Later Services in Africa

Lipa Later, a Kenyan financial technology (fintech) firm active in four countries, has partnered with US-based Mastercard to expand its merchant network and technological infrastructure in support of the “buy now-pay later” options that it offers online and in-store consumers. According to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: I&M Bank Enables Spenn Mobile App Users to Send Money to Financial Institutions Across Rwanda 

Norway’s Spenn Technology recently expanded its partnership with the Rwandan unit of Kenya’s Investments & Mortgages (I&M) Bank to allow users of the Spenn mobile application to send money to any financial services provider in Rwanda, including banks and competing mobile money services. The app’s other features include

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Yabx Raising Equity to Expand Backoffice Fintech for Financial Inclusion in Nigeria

Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm, recently announced that it is raising equity financing for Yabx Technologies, a Netherlands-based provider of software that enables digital lending, to expand its operations in Nigeria. The company helps

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Via InsuResilience Investment Fund II, KfW Seeks to Grow Climate Microinsurance in Africa, Asia, Latin America

German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) recently funded the InsuResilience Investment Fund Private Equity II (IIF PE II) to invest in firms helping people in Africa, Asia and Latin America to manage climate risks. In particular, the fund targets

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fintech Zeepay Nets $10m in Debt Financing, Expanding Digital Wallet Services in Africa, Latin America

Verdant Capital, an African corporate finance firm, recently announced it has raised USD 10 million in “medium-term” debt funding for Zeepay, a financial technology (fintech) company serving 20 countries in Africa as well as – via partners – markets in the Americas and Europe. Zeepay, which has offices in Ghana and the UK, plans to use the funding to expand:

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Tugende Borrows $2.6m to Finance Vehicle Ownership for SMEs in East Africa

Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm, recently helped Tugende, a Uganda-based, technology-driven, lease-to-own vehicle financing firm, secure EUR 2.5 million (USD 2.6 million) in debt funding from an unspecified “European impact investor.” In addition