Investing in women-led businesses in Africa

In 2008, when Tokunboh and Polo started Alitheia IDF, which is a joint venture between Alitheia Capital in Nigeria and IDF Capital in South Africa, they were determined to back women-owned businesses, because they knew that there were many women on the continent whose businesses could grow with the right funding.

As advice to budding women entrepreneurs, Tokunboh says: “Raise your aspirations. It’s not easy to raise funding. Hopefully you will be knocking at our door. If you go knocking elsewhere don’t be put off by a ‘no’. Leverage a ‘no’ to think about what you need to change within your business. Be open and flexible to that. If you recognise that is it just unconscious bias, you really need to come to Alitheia IDF.”

Listen to our podcast on gender lending:

We already know that investing in women is good business. Enterprises with women in at least half of leadership positions have higher sales growth, are more profitable and get a better return on their assets. Roughly 80% of consumer buying decisions are made by women, which means that firms with women across their ranks often produce better-selling products. But investing in women doesn’t just make good financial sense. It makes good climate sense:

• More women are likely to start businesses focused on sustainability.
• Companies with women on their boards are likely to improve energy efficiency, lower costs and invest in renewable power generation.

Companies that expanded the female representation of their boards over a five-year period were 60% more likely to reduce the intensity of their energy consumption, 39% more likely to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and 46% more likely to lower their water use.