Oasis Capital launches fund for SMEs

Oasis Capital Ghana, a licensed capital fund manager, has launched its Oasis Africa Fund (OAF), a US$50-million fund aimed at supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in some selected West African countries.

The OAF, according to the Chief Executive Officer of Oasis Capital Ghana, Mr Mathew Boadu Adjei, will target SMEs which provide essential services for the growing African middle class using scalable business models.

The fund is thus more inclined towards SMEs in the key areas of housing and hospitality, private education, health and related services, financial services (other than banking) and food services.

'We believe that these sectors will be the drivers of the African growth and development story,' Mr Adjei said at the launch of the fund and a symposium on innovation in SME financing organised by the company.

It would also provide its partners with substantial financial returns for their investments in the fund, as well as create social impact via employment generation, he said.

The regions under consideration, he said, included Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana, which would enjoy about 60 per cent of the funds to be raised under the OAF.

He described the forum as very apt, since it would provide a platform to share ideas on how best the SME sector could be developed.  

The Director, Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Joseph Chognuru, urged SMEs to take full advantage of opportunities presented by the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX) on the Ghana Stock Exchange to grow their businesses.

By Jessica Acheampong/Daily Graphic/Ghana