FSDAi: Building Africa’s financial markets

FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi) uses a 'test, accelerate, and mobilise' strategy to deploy catalytic capital into African financial markets, focusing on high-risk, early-stage investments to unlock commercial finance. Since 2017, it has committed US$114 million across 19 transactions, targeting sectors such as renewable energy, climate adaptation, and financial inclusion. The organization emphasizes a 'gender lens' to address the US$42 billion financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa and is increasingly aligning its portfolio with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

• FSDAi employs a three-part investment strategy—test, accelerate, and mobilise—to address financial market gaps. This involves using demonstration transactions to show the potential of novel solutions, providing patient capital to bridge funding gaps for growth-stage companies, and de-risking investments to attract other private investors.
• As of June 2023, FSDAi has committed US$114 million (£92m) across 19 transactions. Its portfolio utilizes various financial instruments, with equity making up 56.0%, debt 28.5%, and quasi-equity 15.5%.
• FSDAi's investments have achieved significant development impact by March 2023, including enabling 10.7 million people (40% of whom are women) to access finance and crowding-in £1.2 billion of long-term capital to support SMEs.
• The organization is shifting its focus toward green and sustainable growth, aligning investments with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Specific examples include investments in Nithio and Persistent Energy for climate adaptation and renewable energy, and a convertible loan to Africa Climate Ventures to mobilize private capital for carbon opportunities.
• FSDAi integrates a 'gender lens' into its investment process to combat an estimated US$42 billion financing gap for women in Africa. This includes investing in companies with women founders or senior leadership, such as Transform Health and the Nyala Facility.
• The investment in MFS Africa served as a successful market-building example; FSDAi provided early capital that signaled viability to commercial investors, eventually leading to a financially successful exit in 2021 after the company connected over 320 million mobile money wallets.
• FSDAi operates in complementarity with FSD Africa, combining FSDAi's commercial funding and risk-taking with FSD Africa's technical assistance, advocacy, and policy influencing to drive systemic change.

APA

FSD Africa (n.d.). FSDAi: Building Africa’s financial markets. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSDAi-Pull-Out-08.10.2023.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. FSDAi: Building Africa’s financial markets. n.d. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSDAi-Pull-Out-08.10.2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=FSDAi: Building Africa’s financial markets |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSDAi-Pull-Out-08.10.2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafricandfsdai, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{FSDAi: Building Africa’s financial markets}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSDAi-Pull-Out-08.10.2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }