Leading Ghanaian private pensions provider Axis Pension Trustees (Axis), and Norwegian development finance institution (DFI) Norfund have become the latest investors in Ghana-based investment platform Growth Investment Partners (GIP). Focused on providing long-term but flexible capital to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West African country, particularly in underserved sectors, GIP was established by UK DFI British International Investment (BII).

These two new investors brought with them a commitment of $20-million, to reinforce GIP’s capital base. GIP operated using local currency to fund high-potential Ghanaian enterprises. It sought to mobilise international as well as domestic capital, with local pension funds a key source of the latter. The aim was to bridge the gap between traditional bank lending and private equity finance.

“The addition of Axis Pensions and Norfund marks an important milestone for GIP and reflects growing confidence in our investment model,” affirmed GIP Ghana CEO Jacob Kholi. “Over the past two-and-a-half years, we have demonstrated that flexible, local currency capital, combined with hands-on support, can unlock meaningful growth for Ghanaian businesses. This new capital positions us to scale that impact further.”

“GIP has built a strong team to execute its investment strategy, and we are confident in their ability to deliver decent financial returns as well as real economic impact,” highlighted Axis CEO Afriyie Oware. “For us, this partnership reflects our strategic focus on real sector investments that support productive local enterprises and drive sustainable economic growth.”

Axis is one of Ghana’s top three corporate trustees, and manages more than 10-billion Ghanaian cedis (GHS) for more than 300 000 members. It oversees the Axis Pension Plan, which is the country’s leading personal pension scheme, with 60 000 contributors and more than GHS500-million in assets.

“We are pleased to partner with GIP as it scales its investment platform in Ghana,” said Norfund regional director for West Africa Naana Winful Fynn. “Access to flexible, long-term capital remains a key constraint for many growing businesses. GIP’s approach provides an effective model for addressing this gap for SMEs, whilst delivering both development impact and sustainable returns, and is complementary to Norfund’s other investments in Ghana.”

GIP also provides support to businesses in such things as governance, financial management, strategy, and environmental and social performance. This serves to strengthen companies’ operations and helps them scale up successfully. The result is local industrialisation, job creation and economic development.