News
Small Foundation is pleased to announce a new catalytic investment in Ci Gaba, a Ghana-based, local-currency fund of funds designed to unlock domestic institutional capital for small and medium enterprise (SME) finance.
This investment will mobilise significant capital from Ghanaian pension funds into SME-focused venture capital, private equity, and debt funds.
Unlocking local capital
SMEs are widely recognised as engines of growth, employment and innovation, yet they remain chronically underserved by capital. In Ghana and across sub-Saharan Africa, domestic pension funds and other institutional investors manage growing pools of long-term capital, but only a small share is invested towards local enterprises.
This gap is not due to lack of opportunity, but rather structural barriers: limited familiarity with the asset class, a shortage of local fund managers with established track records, and continued reliance on foreign currency capital, which exposes funds and businesses to volatility.
Ci Gaba has been designed to address these constraints. Its blended structure uses catalytic capital to reduce risk for local institutional investors, creating a credible pathway for pension funds to invest in SME-focused funds.
Hearing from Ci Gaba’s founder
To mark this investment, we spoke with Hamdiya Ismaila, founder of Savannah Impact Advisory and fund manager of Ci Gaba, about why mobilising local institutional capital matters and what success would look like for Ci Gaba.
“Mobilising local capital isn’t just about funding SMEs, it’s about transforming markets so that investors have confidence, and local enterprises have the resources they need to succeed. That’s the mission of Ci Gaba.”
Small Foundation’s role as a catalytic investor
Small Foundation’s investment enables Ci Gaba to reach first close and unlock commitments from Ghanaian pension funds. By accepting additional risk, our capital helps crowd in significantly larger volumes of local institutional capital and test whether local-currency fund structures can meet domestic investor return expectations.
“Catalytic capital allows us to absorb risk where it matters most, so that local investors can participate with confidence. Our investment in Ci Gaba is about shifting capital flows, not just supporting a single fund.”
— Conor, Brosnan, CIO & Chair at Small Foundation
If successful, Ci Gaba will show that catalytic capital can be used as a transitional mechanism, reducing risk at early stages, building a track record, and ultimately lowering the need for concessional capital. The long-term ambition is a market in which local institutional investors allocate meaningfully to private markets on a sustained basis.
