Altree Capital 2022 Review and Outlook for 2023

12 January 2023

Dear Friends and Investors,

Following the exciting events of 2022, and ahead of what looks to be a busy 2023, we would like to provide you with an update on Altree Capital and the Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund. Our year ended on a high note, with the announcement of our partnership with Prosper Africa at the US Africa Leaders Forum in Washington, DC on 14 December 2022.

Figure 1: Prosper Africa Partnership announcement

Jenni was invited to attend the African Innovators Gathering, an event hosted by the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken at the U.S. Department of State. It was also an opportunity to bump into old friends like Tony Elumelu, Chairman of UBA and Yofi Grant, CEO of Ghana's Investment Promotion Centre.

Photo 1: Jenni at the US Africa Leaders Summit, Washington DC

At Altree Capital, we started 2022 on a strong note, completing a review of our ESG Management System with oversight and guidance from the IFC. We are proud to have also completed the year-long Women Empowerment Mentoring and Incubation Fund Manager Programme (We>Mi), which was run by SAVCA and MiDA and sponsored by USAID. It was an excellent opportunity to refine our strategy, hone our skills and extend our networks including growing our community of women fund managers.

Photo 2: Jenni and Nyasha – video from WeMi

Nyasha attended the 3rd MiDA Conference in South Africa which was in partnership with Standard Bank, where he pitched the Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund to a number of different US investors. Some of the other highlights included attending the NASP Annual Financial Services Conference in April, the Global Women Fund Week 2022 and the NASP Women Forum, where we met like-minded businesses and investors with that are focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion.

We attended the IFC SME Venture Forum in The Hague and Jenni was invited to speak at SuperReturns Africa on ESG in Africa: the risk vs. the returns.

Photo 3: Jenni debating ESG risk vs rewards with Vishnu Amble at SuperReturns Africa 2022

Looking ahead to 2023, we will continue to build out our pipeline, screen and select companies for further due diligence and funding. As part of this process we will be conducting regional due diligence trips, with our technical partners, as we work with the women-led, owned and oriented companies to ensure capacity building, develop strong environmental, social, governance and impact plans for each entity and take into consideration the wider value chain.

We will launch an Evergreen Technical Assistance Vehicle (ETAV), in the first quarter, to provide repayable funding to qualifying companies. The ETAV will provide concessionary funding repayable within three years. The vehicle will help to ‘crowd-in’ private capital into the Fund and enhance Altree Capital’s track record of deploying capital with a gender-lens and climate-smart approach, as a team.

Regarding the launch of the Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund, we aim to reach first close by the end of July 2023 and as part of the process we are scheduling marketing trips to South Africa, USA, and Europe to meet LPs.

The companies in our pipeline all show exceptional growth potential and offer strong returns. We will be in contact in the upcoming weeks to discuss the Altree Kadzi Gender Climate Fund with you in more detail and you are welcome to schedule a catch-up call with us, please find our contact details below.