WAI Impact Report 2023: Collaboration across capital

Women in African Investments (WAI) has launched its 2023 impact report, showcasing the network’s role in bringing together senior female investment professionals who believe in the power of greater access to capital for female founders in Africa.

Small Foundation has provided core support to WAI since March 2023, including supporting its 2022 Impact Report, which showcased data from its then 160 members.

The network has now grown to over 270 members from across the African investment community. WAI’s 2023 Impact Report highlights the breadth and diversity of its membership as well as the role of the network. We are shown key developments in the way WAI operates and positions itself in the market, including:

• WAI is shifting systems by tackling mental models, approaches and structures embedded across the African investment ecosystem. It does so by fostering community conversations, sharing lived experiences, supporting research and advocacy efforts, and building trust between fund managers and investors. Through these efforts the network is confronting the underlying drivers limiting women’s access to capital across the African investment spectrum.
• WAI members have developed a more fit-for-purpose understanding of capital requirements for female investment professionals who are raising and deploying capital in Africa. They coined the terms ‘green house’, referring to investment models currently considered incompatible with institutional funding, and ‘red circle’, referring to investment models that are compatible with DFI funding, such as venture capital and private equity. WAI serves as a bridge between senior investment professionals across these models, building connections and collaborations across and within these spaces.
• By supporting the capacity of its members, identifying opportunities for coordination around topics members see as critical, and building a community of senior investment professionals, WAI is driving collaboration and action for the change its members want to see.

Read WAI’s 2023 Impact Report.

Apply to join the WAI network.