British International Investment

Adiwale Fund I

AfricaCote d'IvoireMauritiusSenegalAfricaConsumer - EducationConsumer - other servicesInfrastructureManufacturingOther

Adiwale Fund I is an SME fund primarily targeting investments in West Africa focusing on Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali. It is the first fund raised by Adiwale Partners and will make investments in selected industry sectors (FMCG, business services and manufacturing) with commitments of $3 million to 10 million.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact

Promote economic opportunities by creating jobs (SDG targets 8.5, 9.3)

How?

How?

CDC's commitment will support Adiwale to make investments of $3 million to $10 million and provide value add for up to ten SMEs in Francophone West Africa, supporting the SMEs' growth and direct employment creation. By achieving exits and top quartile commercial returns, Adiwale can help demonstrate the viability of investing in this market segment, thereby attracting commercial capital into this market in the long term. More commercial investors investing in this space and Adiwale's fundraising of a follow-on fund would signal positive performance.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees

Francophone West Africa (Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin)

Primarily low-income and middle-income.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Supporting the creation of an estimated 1,800 new jobs over the lifetime of our investment.

The impact is likely to be deeper in economies with higher unemployment rates. At the time of investment, unemployment rates are respectively 6.5 per cent in Burkina Faso, 6.8 per cent in Senegal, 2.6 per cent in Cote d'Ivoire, and an average of 6.1 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, there unemployment rates mask the much lower levels of formal employment and the significant challenge of underemployment. Access to employment is expected to have a sustained impact on stakeholders' livelihoods. Employment creation is expected to materialise in the short term, while the demonstration effect is likely to materialise in five to ten years.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Capital is not offered in sufficient quantity by the commercial market.By investing early in the fundraising process and supporting the manager in engaging with potential investors, we supported Adiwale in reaching a viable fund size to execute its strategy.
  • Value additionality: We will help to reduce execution risks and any negative impact risks through support to the manager building its platform including environmental and social, business integrity, and impact processes.

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

2.2-3.3

Risk

Execution Risk
  • The impact case relies on the fund's ability to deliver investee growth to create jobs, and in the longer term the ability to deliver exits and attractive financial returns to attract commercial investors.
External Risk
  • External factors that are independent from the fund's performance may dissuade commercial investors from investing in the SME segment in Francophone West Africa. It will take five to ten years and repeated success for more commercial investors to enter this market.

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We are working closely with the fund manager to develop an ESMS (for this first-time fund). We will support implementation of the ESMS and improve it as the fund begins to invest.

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D1832
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Africa
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Consumer - Education, Consumer - other services, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Other

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    October 2019
    Amount :
    $19.08m
    Currency of investment :
    EUR
    Fund Manager:
    Adiwale Partners
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    Mauritius

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit http://www.adiwale.com/

Investment name Country Region Sector Start date Status
Enko Education Limited Africa Africa Consumer - Education May 2022 Active
Global Action Senegal West Africa Consumer - other services June 2023 Active
Independent Drilling Company Mauritius Mauritius, West Africa Africa, East Africa Other January 2022 Active
MCT Cote d'Ivoire West Africa Manufacturing May 2021 Active
Novago Africa Africa, Cote d'Ivoire Africa, West Africa Infrastructure January 2023 Active

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