Seven philanthropists unveil Pan-African investor network

NAIROBI, KENYA: Two Kenyans are among seven big-hearted Africans that have come together to set up a Pan-African platform for funding social innovations.

Modelled after two similar European and Asian platforms, the  African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) is set to be a unique and vibrant Pan-African network of social investors established in an effort to effectively address Africa’s daunting social challenges by providing the requisite capital to businesses or initiatives that go in that direction.

Led by their Nigerian chairman Olayemi Cardoso, AVPA will serve as a platform to attract, connect and empower social investors across Africa.

 “The founders of AVPA believe it is now time to build a robust network of African social investors to help unlock new capital for positive social impact,” he revealed,

“The AVPA network model is based on two similar organisations that are currently enjoying rapid growth and success in advancing social investment: the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN).”

Also, the two networks combined have more than754 members in 52 countries have mobilised more than Sh700 billion deployed as grants, equity, debt or blended financing.

“This is because investors in these two networks have found that tangible development can be realised by building a vibrant ecosystem where all kinds of capital collaborate to form a Continuum of Capital (COC),” he noted.

As a result, Olayemi said AVPA membership will be open to private investors, high-net-worth individuals, private corporations, foundations, universities, public institutions, private equity, and impact investment firms, among others.

 “Simply put, AVPA membership will be open to parties with resources in the form of financial, human and/or intellectual capital is driven by the aspiration to deploy that capital effectively to generate significant social impact,” he added.

Further, he said, as a non-profit, nonpartisan platform, AVPA will feature a deal share portal, policy forum, knowledge centre, as well as networking events.