British retail billionaire Lord David Sainsbury has reportedly set up an investment vehicle to
invest solely in East African businesses.
According to a report by
Kenyan newspaper Business Daily, Lord Sainsbury’s
new investment company, called Msingi (which is derived from a Swahili word
meaning ‘Foundation’), will invest in East African startups that have high
growth potential.
Msingi will support the
establishment of new companies in key sectors like Agriculture and will
undertake market and technology research as well assist entrepreneurs and new
business owners in business planning and development. The new company will also
operate an enterprise incubator which will provide venture capital to select
businesses.
“With the setting up of
Msingi, we are confirming our commitment to achieve sustainable industrial
development through a number of ambitious sector development programmes,” David
Sainsbury reportedly said during a meeting with Kenya’s
Industrialization secretary, Adan Mohamed on Wednesday in Nairobi.
Msingi will be managed by
the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, a British-based
grantmaking trust that David Sainsbury founded in 1967 to provide funding for
charitable causes in
the areas of public policy, the arts and poverty alleviation in Africa among
other things.
David Sainsbury, who
inherited a stake in Sainsbury’s – one of the U.K’s largest supermarket chains,
has a net worth that Forbes estimates at $1.3 billion. He has been investing
actively in Africa for close to
three decades through the Gatsby Foundation, which champions a series of
development initiatives on the continent, including agricultural research and
dissemination, microfinance for small businesses and strengthening government
policy making and implementation. In 2005, the Gatsby foundation launched the
African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF), an agriculture-focused private equity
fund that has invested in more than 10 East African companies involved in
floriculture, rice farming, honey exports and agro-processing. AACF’s capital
is managed by Pearl Capital Partners, a specialized African agricultural
investment fund manager based in Kampala, Uganda,
“We have worked in Africa
since 1985, with the overall objective of creating jobs and
improving incomes. With the setting up of Msingi, we are confirming our
commitment to [achieving] sustainable industrial development through a number
of ambitious sector development programmes,” Sainsbury told the newspaper.
source:forbies
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