I&P Development (IPDEV) is a Eur 21m sponsor fund managed by I&P that aims at jumpstarting and sponsoring 10 impact funds dedicated to Startups and SMEs in Africa. IPDEV was started in 2015 and has already supported 7 new management teams and funds in countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sénégal, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda and Madagascar. Theses impact funds, led by African investment professionals and mainly capitalized by African investors, provide equity and quasi-equity to early-stage businesses for amounts ranging from €50,000 to €500,000 per company, thus serving the missing middle of African SMEs. The initial financial and impact results of this first phase with 50+ companies are very promising. IPDEV will soon complete the network of 10 teams and will then be fully disbursed.

IPDEV is now preparing its scale up phase in order to double its assets under management with support from large international investors and DFIs. IPDEV will thus grow its network of African Investment teams to 15 teams in 15 countries. Beyond the investment capacity, IPDEV will continue to provide hands-on support, capacity building, best practices and Esg and impact practices to this network of outstanding investment professionals. IPDEV mixes a strong local rooting in the field where SMEs operate and the most up to date practices of the SME investment sector. IPDEV is also natively a blending approach relying on equity from private and institutional investors, loans, and grants from donors, each type of capital playing a key role to catalyze the impact of the other. IPDEV will have a lasting impact on African entrepreneurial Ecosystem for years and will impact hundreds of African SMEs.