Inua is a gender-lens fund manager in Uganda
2021
Inua Capital is a gender-lens fund manager which manages impact investment funds that invest patient and flexible risk capital in local Ugandan SMEs across all sectors, with the explicit intention of creating decent jobs and driving sustainable economic development. The word ‘Inua’ means ‘to uplift’ in Kiswahili – it speaks to our core purpose of driving economic transformation. Our vision is just 5 words: to uplift Uganda, our home. We invest local and foreign resources to build an economically, socially and ecologically sustainable Uganda. In a country grappling with poverty and underdevelopment, we champion entrepreneurship as a force to create decent and sustainable jobs. We invest for good growth and thus have a 3-pronged approach to impact: economic empowerment, inclusivity and sustainability. As a fund manager, Inua deploys a flagship growth equity fund that is an evergreen fund investing across all sectors of the economy, but with priority given to those sectors that help further our sustainable development goals, for a modest commercial return. We also manage smaller concessional funding vehicles that, with blended financing, enable us to support and accelerate sectors and enterprises that may not be able to afford commercial capital but that have an extremely high impact on course-correcting our economy’s structure (in line with our 3 lenses). We are also seeking to raise a private credit fund, which will provide concessional capital to focus on accelerating investment in our human development sectors – health and education – which are increasingly strained and underserved in Uganda.
