Proparco: $12m invests in Africa frontier-market investor Maris, under the FISEA+ initiative

Proparco, through AFD Group’s FISEA+ initiative, has just closed a $12m equity round with Maris Limited, an impact investor with expertise in frontier markets in East and Southern Africa.

The climate-aligned investment will fund start-ups and SMEs in renewable energy, agriculture and business services, with net negative GHG emissions for the activities concerned.
Since 2009, Maris has built a portfolio of 20 SMEs across 11 countries in East and Southern Africa, particularly in fragile countries such as Zimbabwe, South Sudan and Mozambique. Working with local business partners, Maris pursues a majority investment strategy and, to date has either created or turned around all of its investee companies. In the process, Maris has created more than 2,500 new direct jobs and maintained more than 500 existing jobs. Women represent 40% of total employment, which qualifies Maris for the 2X Challenge, a global gender finance initiative.