$35M Boost for Gender Equality: Aruwa Capital Champions Women Entrepreneurs in West Africa

• $35 million was raised for the fund by Lagos-based Aruwa Capital, an investment firm run by women
• The fund supports women-led, gender-diverse, early-stage companies in Ghana and Nigeria

In the second close of its gender-focused fund, Aruwa Capital Fund II, Lagos-based Aruwa Capital Management, a female-led private equity firm, raised $35 million. The fund's objective is to bridge the early-stage funding gap for gender-diverse and women-led enterprises in Ghana and Nigeria.

Notable institutional backers, including British International Investment (BII), which contributed $5 million, Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, Visa Foundation, and EDFI Management Company through the EU's Electrification Financing Initiative, were drawn to this most recent funding round. Notably, the first local institutional investor in the fund was Nigeria's Bank of Industry.

Aruwa Capital Fund II has more than doubled the $20 million final close of its initial fund in 2022 with this round, reaching 90 percent of its $40 million target. Encouraged by the high level of investor interest, the company is now thinking about raising the fund's goal to $50 million, with a hard cap of $60 million expected later this year.

Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes founded Aruwa Capital in 2019 and draws on her ten years of experience working in private equity and investment banking at major corporations like J.P. Morgan. In order to address the structural funding gap that African women entrepreneurs face, she founded the company.

The fund invests between $500,000 and $2.5 million in high-potential, women-led small and growing businesses, with a focus on consumer goods, energy access, healthcare, and financial services—sectoral areas essential to inclusive economic development.

Aruwa Capital Fund II has so far invested in two companies: Toasties, a rapidly expanding casual dining brand, and Yikodeen, a domestic producer of industrial safety boots. With portfolio companies increasing revenues by 22 times in local currency and obtaining follow-on investments at valuations up to seven times Aruwa's initial entry point, Aruwa's first fund showed remarkable impact. Over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created by Aruwa's funds combined, and 73 percent of the portfolio companies were started or are run by women.

The company has received prestigious recognition for its innovative work, including two Global Woman Manager of the Year awards and the "Impact Investor of the Year 2023" title. Aruwa is dedicated to empowering female entrepreneurs and promoting inclusive growth throughout Africa as it continues to advocate for gender-lens investing.