Aspire

Together with partners including Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, Skoll Foundation and Shell Foundation, SFSA is co-investing in ASPIRE to support the growth of small and medium enterprises in Eastern Africa. ASPIRE is managed by GroFin, a specialist business development and finance company providing business support and appropriate finance to viable businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Candidate enterprises must have a strong business plan, which is more important than having a proven track record or collateral. Financial investment can be up to US $1 million per company, but it’s the added value of business expertise provided by co-investors that helps to turn business plans into reality.

Since 2006, ASPIRE has invested more than US $7m in 21 enterprises, creating employment for nearly 600 people. Over the next two years, we expect to see this number grow to an additional 70 enterprises.

In 2005, Charles Githuka Ngugi, a former truck driver in Kenya, started ‘Lima Feeds’, a successful business trading in feed for chicks, chickens, pigs and dairy cows. He faced growing demand and wanted to purchase raw materials in bigger quantities and a truck for faster, more reliable deliveries. But he lacked the capital to expand the business.

GroFin’s specialists offered guidance and loans totalling 6.3 million Kenyan Shillings (about US $95,000) to help Charles purchase the delivery truck and organize his books and accounts to make his business more efficient. They helped him employ an accountant, two sales people, a driver for his truck and advised him on how to market his business so he could win new clients.