The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) was unveiled this month, which has been described as a unique network for social investors to fund innovative organisations tackling the continent’s social, environmental and economic challenges.
Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the AVPA will be modelled the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN)
AVPA Chairman, Olayemi Cardoso said: ‘The founders of AVPA believe it is now time to build a robust network of African social investors to help unlock new capital for positive social impact.’
In its launch phase the AVPA is seeking seed funding of $1.5 million per year from founding partners. Olayemi added, ‘Simply put, AVPA membership will be open to parties with resources in the form of financial, human and/or intellectual capital is driven by the aspiration to deploy that capital effectively to generate significant social impact.’
The network is aiming to support members with a ‘robust portfolio of critical services’ including a knowledge hub for research, an events programme and a deal share platform to connect investors and organisations to the EVPA and AVPN.
Also, the two networks combined have more than754 members in 52 countries have mobilised more than Sh700 billion deployed as grants, equity, debt or blended financing.“This is because investors in these two networks have found that tangible development can be realised by building a vibrant ecosystem where all kinds of capital collaborate to form a Continuum of Capital (COC),” he noted
.As a result, Olayemi said AVPA membership will be open to private investors, high-net-worth individuals, private corporations, foundations, universities, public institutions, private equity, and impact investment firms, among others.
“Simply put, AVPA membership will be open to parties with resources in the form of financial, human and/or intellectual capital is driven by the aspiration to deploy that capital effectively to generate significant social impact,” he added.
Further, he said, as a non-profit, nonpartisan platform, AVPA will feature a deal share portal, policy forum, knowledge centre, as well as networking events.
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