Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), an international economic development organization that creates business solutions to poverty, has announced a $200 million commitment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (MFAGF) to help create dignified and fulfilling jobs for young people, especially young women.

MFAGF, a “fund of funds” of investment vehicles (IVs), aims to attract capital for African entrepreneurs by strengthening and de-risking IVs that are committed to advancing gender equity in entrepreneurship. In addition, the fund will offer a business development facility for its portfolio companies. To that end, the initiative will use gender-lens investing (GLI) principles to promote the foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, which aims to enable 30 million youth in Africa, particularly young women, to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. To date, MFAGF has recruited two IVs supporting entrepreneurial growth—one in East Africa and one in West Africa.

African-owned, -led, and -based IVs are considered high-risk, and African small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) struggle to access the financing they need to scale. MFAGF will tackle both challenges by investing in and strengthening African IVs that in turn support African SMEs.

“We need to do everything it takes now to build a continent with shared prosperity and sustainable, inclusive growth,” said MEDA president and CEO Dorothy Nyambi. “This fund of funds will strengthen a new crop of African IVs to drive decent job creation for women and youth via investments in small and medium-sized enterprises.”

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