I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs I (IPAE1)

I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 1 (€(54m) is the 2nd vehicle managed by Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), an impact investment group dedicated to African SMEs.

IPAE1 targets the "missing middle", ie SMEs and MFIs in Africa and expects to achieve both impact objectives and good financial returns through a 5 to 7 year investment period.

I&P is an active partner bringing its know-how in management and finance within an entrepreneurial approach. I&P's model entirely hinges around the entrepreneur, with whom I&P is willing to establish a long-term relationship based on trust.

Since 2012, the IPAE team has constituted a significantly diversified portfolio of 29 investments. The fund's diversification mitigates political & macro-economic risk:

- Geography: a dozen of countries are covered, half of them being least developed countries ( in West Africa, Central Africa, the Indian Ocean & Eastern Africa).

- Sectorial approach: with investments in companies operating in a broad set of sectors (Agri-business, Microfinance, Construction Industry, Transport, Health, Services, IT, Renewable energies, …) offering B2C goods & services for both middle class and low-income individuals, but also providing B2B goods & services to companies based in Africa.

- A combination of investees at different growth stages, with ¼ of investment in start-ups and ¾ of companies at their expansion stage.

Financial description

I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs invests in SMEs in their early, development stage or turnaround.
-SMEs (including start-ups), employing on average from 10 to 250 people with a turnover ranging from €200k to € 10m.
-MFIs : greenfield, in association with a Microfinance operator or microfinance projects to be converted into private companies, development and consolidation of existing MFIs, small commercial financial institutions facing strategic challenges.
-In diversified sectors (health, food-processing, agriculture, public works, retail, services, microfinance…)
-Showing a strong potential for value creation and managed by skilled local entrepreneurs/managers
-In search of mentoring and advice
IPAE uses different kinds of financial instruments: minority equity and quasi equity with a holding period of 5 to 6 years.
Since 2012, the IPAE team has constituted a portfolio of 29 investments in Africa, representing €29m of commitments. The average deal size stands at €1m.