Most of the PE/VC funds investing in Ghana tend to be sector agnostic and employ venture or growth investment strategies, using both equity and quasi equity financing; however, there is a small subset of thematic funds focused on impact, health, agribusiness, real estate or infrastructure which also invest in Ghana. According to EMPEA data, Ghanaian banks and financial services outfits have been significant recipients of PE/VC fund investment – totaling roughly US$115 million since 2008. There has also been significant PE investment towards oil and gas exploration and production in Ghana. In 2008, globally renowned private equity shops Warburg Pincus and Blackstone Capital Partners invested US$500 million in Kosmos Energy for its development activities in West Africa, including the Jubilee Field offshore Ghana. Real estate investments in Ghana by PE funds have also featured prominently in EMPEA data, amounting to US$45 million since 2008, including the Abraaj Group’s US$20 million investment in Regimanuel Gray Ltd., a real estate developer, in 2008.<sup>73</sup> Thematic funds investing in Ghana include the following four broad categories:

- a) **Impact investors** such as Acumen, I&P, and Injaro.<sup>74</sup> Acumen’s West Africa office opened in 2011 and they have invested in four deals in Ghana totaling roughly US$7 million.<sup>75</sup>

- b) **Health investors** such as Abraaj Capital’s US$105 million Africa Health Fund, which invested in C&J Medicare Hospital in Ghana.

- c) **Agricultural/agribusiness-focused funds** such as the US$49 million Injaro Capital Holdings and US$36 million AAF SME (although the latter has not yet invested in Ghana).

- d) **Real estate funds** such as US$278 million Actis Africa Real Estate II; and US$154 million Actis Africa Real Estate (2006) which had invested US$26 million in Accra Mall.

- e) **Infrastructure funds,** such as African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), a subsidiary of Macquarie and Old Mutual Investment Group, which invested through African Infrastructure Investment Fund 2 (AIIF2) in Cenpower Generation Company Limited (‘Cenpower’), an SPV created to develop the Kpone Independent Power Plant in the Tema industrial zone. In addition, the government sponsored Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, which will invest in infrastructure projects for national development was to begin operations in 2015, aiming to create investment opportunities for institutional investors including pension funds.

As in other developing markets, subsidized technical assistance (TA) to build investee capacity is an important aspect of PE/VC investment in Ghana; however only a subset of funds has access to dedicated pots of TA money. Among the VCTF funds, for example, Fidelity Equity Fund II relied on TA provided by FMO and OBVIAM<sup>76</sup> to help increase the investment worthiness of investees and raise deployed capital to SMEs. Injaro has an approximately US$2 million TA facility financed by DFID, Proparco and Lundin at its disposal to help catalyze its investments in agriculture/agribusiness focused SMEs. Abraaj Capital’s health fund, Africa Health Fund, also has access to TA through IFC and Proparco.

# **Accelerators, Incubators, Angel Networks**<sup>**77**</sup>

Incubators and accelerators are intermediaries that help companies to grow by providing a combination of capital, mentorship, technical support, infrastructure, and other critical resources. Their ultimate goal is to prepare companies for growth and eventual investment from VC firms. Unlike VC firms, however, incubators and accelerators are not funds per se and generally provide only small amounts of financing. Often the capital invested by such intermediaries is start-up capital and is less than US$25,000–US$50,000.

> 73 This was previously an Aureos fund investment.  Aureos merged with Abraaj in 2012.

> 74 Injaro also classifies itself as an impact investor.

> 75The investments are in Sproxil, Pagatech, Medeem, and GADCO.  Source: Ghana Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Study led by DFID.

> 76 Manager of SIFEM.

> 77 Draws from Ghana Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Study (DFID), Ghana Climate Innovation Center feasibility study (infoDev) and Ghana Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) Review (World Bank and UNCTAD).

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