Hello,
This edition tracks capital moving through new channels, Zambia's first bank-issued sustainability bond, a $255 million fintech credit close, and fresh financing for cold-chain infrastructure and regional power trade. Alongside the deals, Nigeria and the continent's impact investing ecosystem sees new leadership at IIF and AIIG, plus a fresh slate of podcasts, a new risk framework, and funding calls worth your attention.
Enjoy, and as always, share thoughts, updates for amplification and anything that you consider worthwhile via [email protected].
Financing & Investing
▶ Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) has placed a $50 million first tranche under its $100 million Medium-Term Note Programme, marking the country's inaugural bank-issued sustainability bond. British International Investment anchored the issuance with a $15 million commitment alongside IFC and Finance in Motion, with proceeds directed toward climate-resilient agriculture, renewable energy, SME finance, and affordable housing.
▶ Lendable has completed the final close of its second fund, Lendable MSME Fintech Credit Fund II, at $255 million, surpassing its target and featuring an investment-grade rated senior tranche upgraded after the portfolio's initial performance. The close drew Absa as Lendable's first African bank investor and AXA XL via FinDev Canada, building on the $110 million first fund that backed non-bank financial institutions and fintechs across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
▶ Africa Go Green Fund, managed by Cygnum Capital, has reached financial close on an up to $18 million senior debt facility with Cold Solutions Rwanda to finance a new cold-storage facility in the Kigali Prime Economic Zone. The facility will launch with 4,000-pallet capacity, expandable to 8,000, and pairs a 440 kW rooftop solar installation with a planned green-building certification to cut post-harvest losses in Rwanda's horticulture and food sectors.
▶ Mercuria has signed a $250 million financing agreement with Africa-focused energy investor Exergy, marking the Swiss commodities trader's entry into the region's power market, to support generation and transmission projects run by Exergy subsidiaries Lunzua Power Company and Lusitu Transmission and Distribution Company. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is one of the largest private capital commitments to Zambia's energy sector and is positioned to strengthen the country's role in regional electricity trade.
▶ EG Capital, having previously reached first close of its EG-Economic Empowerment Fund, is now advancing to a second close via a proposed listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange's Unquoted Securities Platform, targeting a minimum $40 million listing size with technical assistance from the UK's FCDO MOBILIST programme. The fund mobilizes institutional capital for climate adaptation, resilience, and economic empowerment across Africa.
Ecosystem & Policy
▶ Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), Nigeria's GSG National Partner and a founding member of the Africa Impact Investing Group (AIIG), has appointed Oare Ehiemua-Ochui as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Etemore Glover. In the role, Ehiemua-Ochui will lead IIF's work to deepen Nigeria's impact investing ecosystem and mobilize capital toward enterprises and initiatives delivering sustainable development outcomes.
▶ Etemore Glover, formerly CEO of IIF and a founding member of AIIG, has moved into the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Impact Investing Group (AIIG) itself, stepping into continent-wide leadership of the network she helped establish.
▶ Small Foundation is backing a new three-year phase of the Growth Firms Alliance (GFA), a funder-led coalition including Argidius, IKEA, Lemelson, and Visa Foundations that coordinates philanthropic and DFI capital behind growth firms across Africa. Phase two moves GFA from an experimental pilot into a more structured operating model, deepening co-investment activity and broadening engagement with capital providers beyond its founding members.
Resources: Media for the Impact Professional
▶ Financing Africa's Future, FSD Africa's podcast examining how capital moves across African markets, is worth visiting if you haven't caught it yet.
▶ Smart Impact Consult has launched a ten-part video series on how impact capital moves across Africa, releasing one episode every Thursday through the end of 2026, sponsored by Spacia Africa and Home Galore Sierra Leone. Season One opens with pension and private equity allocation shifts in Ghana before widening to the Africa Impact Investing Group's continental role, impact investing in Sierra Leone, and the case for frontier markets.
▶ Charged, HEVA Fund's podcast on financing Africa's creative economy, is another worth adding to your queue.
▶ African Guarantee Fund hosted the launch of The Emerging Markets Investor's Guide to Country Risk, a book by AGF board member Richard Marney and Philipp Waeber that introduces the Investor's Rutter, a framework for assessing country risk across four dimensions: endowments, enablers, context, and outcomes. The framework likens the investment landscape to weather, winds, and currents, short-term shocks, policy trajectories, and structural fundamentals, an approach that closely mirrors AGF's own mandate of using guarantee facilities to help partner institutions lend to SMEs with greater confidence.
Opportunities
▶ The Ibuka Growth Program for Women-Led SMEs, led by the Nairobi Securities Exchange with support from the African Guarantee Fund's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), has opened registration for Cohorts 3 and 4. The fully funded programme offers a zero-cost pathway into NSE's flagship Ibuka Program, covering financial management, governance, business strategy, investor readiness, and capital raising for growth-oriented women-led businesses.
▶ 100x Impact, based at the London School of Economics, has opened applications for its 2027/28 cohort of social ventures with proven models ready to scale, offering £150,000 in catalytic grant funding plus a 16-week accelerator programme. The programme has backed 47 ventures to date, collectively reaching 500 million lives worldwide, and applications close November 2, 2026.
▶ The VICTAM Foundation has opened its Call for Funding 2027 for academic and industry projects in research, education, knowledge sharing, innovation, and sustainability for a stronger feed or food industry, with commercial companies also eligible under applicable conditions. Applications close December 31, 2026.
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