27 Jul SEAF Listed Among First Funds in Pioneering Portal for Individual Investors
WASHINGTON, DC – Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) announces today the listing of three of its impact investing funds on Homestrings (www.homestrings.com), an interactive web portal designed to link experienced, individual investors with promising opportunities in emerging markets that were previously only accessible to institutional investors. In conjunction with the portal’s launch, SEAF has listed its Caribbean Growth Fund, Makeda Fund and India Agribusiness Fund.
Commenting on the launch of Homestrings.com and SEAF’s participation in the web portal, SEAF President and CEO Richard Sheridan stated: “Recognizing the demand among Diaspora communities to make a positive impact in their home countries through responsible investment, SEAF has long been interested in recruiting these investors to join our work in emerging markets. Homestrings.com provides SEAF with the mechanism to build these partnerships and SEAF is pleased to be participating in the initiative’s pioneering efforts.”
The SEAF Caribbean Growth Fund will make investments in SMEs in the Caribbean through a blended instrument strategy. The fund will have a double bottom line mission: to promote socially responsible economic development (demonstrable environmental, social, and governance impact) while generating a competitive return to its investors. The fund will invest across a range of industry sectors, with a particular focus on local demand-driven service sectors.
The Makeda Fund will make investments into small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa that are women-owned, led, or exemplify significant impact on women stakeholder communities. It will empower businesswomen (1) by providing them affordable access to capital; (2) by introducing them to globally proven best practices in areas such as sales and marketing, product development, quality control, and financial management; (3) by connecting them to new markets.
The India Agribusiness Fund invests in small and medium enterprises in the Agribusiness value chain – ranging from agri-inputs to food processing and agri-infrastructure to agri-retail. The typical investment size is between USD 2 million and USD 6 million. Bolstered by our local team of experts in agribusiness finance, SEAF applies our global agribusiness experience, along with deep local sector knowledge, to generate substantial sustainable growth in dynamic Indian agribusinesses.
About SEAF
SEAF is a global fund management group specializing in providing growth capital and business support to SMEs in developing countries that are underserved by traditional sources of capital. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., SEAF manages private equity funds in emerging markets through a network of offices around the world. For over 20 years SEAF has supported the sustainable growth of SMEs through structured debt and equity growth capital and extensive post-investment business development assistance. SEAF’s experience investing in more than 330 small businesses has allowed it to identify and invest in promising companies that deliver both positive financial results, as well as significant economic and social benefits to their employees and their communities. For more information, please visit www.seaf.com.
About Homestrings
Homestrings is inspired by personal experience and informed by market demand. It provides a means for the experienced individual investor* to direct their resources towards investments in the Diaspora home countries, while also having access to the financial opportunities previously only available to institutional investors. Homestrings.com is an interactive web portal which aggregates demand and targets access to vetted opportunities investing in emerging market projects. For more information please see www.homestrings.com.
*While Homestrings intends to expand its operations to target potential investors in various markets, for the time being, investment through the Homestrings.com web portal is limited to investors in the United Kingdom.