31 Jan SEAF Forms Strategic Partnership with FMO Ventures to Drive Capacity Development and Scale Access to Finance for High-Impact Tanzanian SMEs
Washington, D.C. (January 2024) – SEAF and FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to support the Daraja Impact project in Tanzania. Daraja Impact is a 5-year project that seeks to support enterprises through the provision of capital and technical assistance to advance inclusion and empowerment for women and youth. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (“SDC”) through the Embassy of Switzerland in Tanzania. It will be implemented by SEAF, in partnership with AlphaMundi Foundation.
Although Tanzania has experienced significant economic growth in the last two decades, small and medium-sized businesses continue to face significant barriers to growth, such as limited access to capital, markets, and other resources vital for fostering innovation and nurturing human capital development. The project therefore focuses on supporting companies at different stages of business maturity, especially those with inclusive business models and innovative products or services that improve the lives of women and youth. The project seeks to advance economic opportunities for women and youth by supporting enterprises that empower and engage them as entrepreneurs, employees, consumers, and suppliers.
Daraja Impact’s approach includes the provision of (1) impact-linked finance to catalyze private sector funding, (2) business support services, including investment readiness and impact measurement and management trainings, and (3) targeted post-investment technical assistance to investees. Through these combined activities, the project will contribute to the enrichment of Tanzania’s entrepreneurial landscape by supporting enterprises in scaling their businesses and deepening their social impact.
The support of the FMO Ventures Program will further the work of Daraja Impact by expanding access to services to Tanzanian entrepreneurs including training on impact measurement and management as well as investment readiness. Moreover, it will strengthen Tanzania’s local entrepreneurial ecosystem by enabling local underserved enterprises at all stages to flourish through tailored assistance.
“SEAF could not be more pleased to have FMO Ventures as a strategic partner for our Daraja Impact project. We expect its innovative approach to “missing middle” SMEs will drive positive economic change in Tanzania by catalyzing third-party global and local capital into the region, highlighting the investment and financing opportunities of high-impact SMEs that empower women, youth and other underserved populations,” SEAF CEO Paul Sheehan commented. “Partnering with FMO Ventures will further enable SEAF and its partners to unlock the potential for growth, job creation and entrepreneurial ecosystem development in Tanzania,“ he concluded.
Speaking on the partnership, Marieke Roestenberg, FMO Ventures Program Manager shared, “We are excited by the opportunity to support an innovative project such as Daraja Impact. The initiative is aligned with FMO Ventures’ strong interest in empowering local partners to deliver more sustainable, long-term market solutions and strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems.”
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Media Contacts:
For more information on this release, contact: Nokuthula Nkhoma | nnkhoma@seaf.com
For more information on Daraja Impact, contact: Peter Righi | prighi@seaf.com
About SEAF
SEAF is a global impact organization with a mission to improve lives and communities through entrepreneurship and small businesses. We invest debt and equity capital and provide advisory and mentorship to serve SMEs in underserved markets to create jobs and build sustainable communities. Since 1989, SEAF has made more than 433 investments across 46 funds in more than 31 countries globally.
About FMO
FMO is the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development bank. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in frontier and growth markets by investing in ambitious projects and entrepreneurs. FMO believes that a strong private sector leads to economic and social development and has a close to 50-year proven track record of empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life. FMO focuses on three sectors that have a high development impact: financial institutions, energy, and agribusiness, food & water. With a committed portfolio of EUR 13.2 billion spanning over 85 countries, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally. For more information: please visit www.fmo.nl