Business Partners International East Africa

Business Partners International East Africa is a USD 35m investment vehicle that will provide risk-finance to small enterprises in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The Company will invest USD 50k-1m mainly via self-liquidating quasi-equity instruments and will complement finance with technical assistance in the form of non-interest bearing loans.

The Company’s offering is tailored to the needs of small enterprises, and accounts for their lack of collateral and irregular cash-flows. Small businesses in BPI EA’s target countries do not have access to formal sources of capital and often rely on private savings, family and friends as their only source of financing. Typically, these businesses do not attract capital from private equity funds, and also have difficulties in accessing classical bank loans. Through its innovative and tested investment approach, BPI EA seeks to close the access to finance gap. In this manner BPI EA has strong synergies with SIFEM’s objectives of supporting private sector development and entrepreneurship.

BPI EA will be advised by Business Partners International a subsidiary of Business Partners Limited, a leading South African small enterprise financier with over 30 years of track record. Since its inception, BPL has invested more than USD 1.2bn in almost 70’000 SMEs.