Kuramo Capital awarded as it projects higher investments in Africa
Pan-African investment firm, Kuramo Capital Management targets to increase its investment in the continent to support its growth momentum.
This comes as the company bagged the Fund of funds Investor award at the Private Equity Africa awards in London UK where the firm was recognized for its more than Ksh 21.9 billion ($170m) investment in TransCentury and 2X Ignite Africa Investment Facility.
“We are fortunate at Kuramo that our investment teams are based on the ground. We have exposure to robust opportunities to look at in the pipeline daily which allows us to narrow down to companies that fit our investment criteria. It is through these criteria that we invested in TransCentury,” said Shaka Kariuki, Kuramo Capital Co-Chief Executive Officer.
The private equity firm acquired a 25pc stake in TransCentury in 2016 through a Ksh 2.6 billion ($20m) investment and has since increased its stake to 75pc.
The firm was also feted for its Ksh 19.4 billion ($150m) investment in 2X Ignite Africa Investment Facility for Warehousing Capital and Moremi accelerator Program, an initiative to empower the next generation of African women enterprises and promote gender-equitable fund management.
“At Kuramo we are sensitive to the fact that Private Equity, not only in Africa but globally, there are not as many women running private equity opportunities. Moremi and 2X are initiatives by Kuramo to bridge this gap. Moremi is an impact fund and a gender lens fund where it will invest in other women led private equity funds and women owned businesses,” added Kariuki.
During the PEA Awards, Kuramo’s Founder and CEO Adewale Adeosun was also named this year’s Limited Partner Person of the Year.
“I am honored and humbled to have received the LP Person of the year award. It is a testament of all the work we at Kuramo have been doing for the last over 10 years. It is a testament to the team at Kuramo Capital. We started off as a Sub-Sahara private equity shop. We are now Pan African, and we do have a goal to continue investing in other countries that are growing really fast and we are finding great opportunities. We are looking at Southern African countries, North African countries and Central,” stated Adeosun.
Since inception, Kuramo Capital has served as an anchor investor in 15 first-time indigenous private equity funds and raising over $3 billion toward investing in sub-Saharan African companies.
Additionally, the equity investor has direct and indirect investments in 200 companies in 30 sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya and Nigeria in various sectors including Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, Infrastructure-Power, Agribusiness, Technology, and Financial Services.
