$100 m Impact Fund for African Creatives to be launched in Aug.

18 / 06 / 2020

By Marwa Nassar - -

Roberta Annan, a Ghanaian businesswoman, will launch in August a $100 million Fund that provides venture capital for growth for African entrepreneurs looking to take their businesses to scale, with an emphasis on those using sustainable materials and adhering to responsible business practices.

This kind of investment in African industry brings with it the opportunity “to press the reset button,” said Annan. “We are aligning back to the soul and focusing on people and planet while also making profit.”

Another benefit is the opportunity to be at the forefront of discussions between the private sector and governments, to drive policy changes to open markets and encourage innovation in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Foreign direct investment gets to do that, so why not us too?” said Annan. “The future lies with us, and we have the opportunity to demonstrate that you can make a profit while also having social impact.”

In 2011, Annan launched the African Fashion Fund to improve access to finance and infrastructure for artisans and creatives from across the continent. She insists that sustainability cannot be limited to only the materials used in producing beautiful things; it should also drive fair wages and economic empowerment – especially for women.

Since its inception, the Fund has offered $5,000 grants to artisans to help them scale up production and gain access to markets, emphasizing women-led brands, that include a cosmetics company and an artisanal chocolate producer.

“We must use the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to redefine sustainability – not just for Africa but for the world,” she said from her home in Accra, Ghana. “There is luxury in our natural environments, and we have the chance to build a business model around the beauty of that luxury.”

While not minimizing the impact of COVID-19 on business, Annan and her colleagues at the Fund are determined to use it as an opportunity to accelerate a plan that was already in progress to make a deliberate push into e-commerce. A digital platform is already in place; all that is needed is a global distribution chain to get wares from the continent to buyers across the globe.

The Fund has also teamed with one of the original artisans who benefited from seed grants to bring portable, foldable looms to 130 villages in Ghana and Nigeria, which will provide an entrepreneurial opportunity to women’s cooperatives to weave and sell textiles.

“It is critical that the artisans who own the craftsmanship have an opportunity to bring the world to them, rather than it being co-opted,” she said. “We are generating demand for creative outputs from Africa, but on African terms.”