Conception and execution stay apart
The Alliance conceives and convenes. The Company builds. An independent manager invests. No body performs two of these roles, and no political organ is present at the third.
We build investment funds in African markets, then hand them over.
The Company brings vehicles into existence where institutional capital has no way in — co-founding each one with a partner rooted in the country, recruiting its investors, and passing it to independent professional management.
The gap
Capital does not skip these markets. It cannot reach them.
A European pension fund cannot invest in a Botswana enterprise directly. It invests through structures it recognises — a regulated fund, in a jurisdiction whose law it understands, under an authorised manager. Where no such structure exists for a country, capital never arrives. Not because the market was assessed and rejected, but because it was never assessable.
Governments cannot build them
A state-controlled vehicle forfeits the independence institutional investors require. The moment a government owns the manager, the capital it was built to attract stops coming.
Managers will not build them
The cost of opening a new market — structuring, negotiation, pipeline, regulatory groundwork — cannot be recovered from a single fund. So it is rarely spent.
Development banks fund what exists
Development finance institutions invest in vehicles already constituted. They very rarely create them. Somebody has to carry the two years before a fund exists.
Our role
What we hold, and what we are kept away from.
Every fund we sponsor writes both columns into its constitutive documents. The limits matter more than the powers: they are what makes the vehicle investable.
What the Company does
- Co-founds the fundDevelops the thesis, prepares the structure, negotiates with government where a sovereign is involved, and constitutes the vehicle jointly with a local partner. Never alone.
- Recruits the investorsLeads the raise across European and African institutions, drawing on the Alliance's networks. Where placement requires a licence, a licensed intermediary is appointed.
- Holds one board seatWritten into the constitutive documents, not dependent on shareholding or renewal. It exists to hold the fund to the mandate its investors subscribed to.
- Maintains the templateGovernance architecture, disclosure practice, reporting indicators — so the second vehicle costs a fraction of the first.
What the Company cannot do
- Manage the fundEuropean law requires an authorised manager, selected competitively. The Company is not eligible and does not seek the role.
- Sit on the Investment CommitteeNo seat, no vote, no veto. Investment and divestment decisions are taken by the manager's professionals and an independent member.
- Control anythingNo controlling interest in any fund. It cannot instruct a manager, originate an investment by authority, or block a sale.
- Move money between vehiclesEach fund has its own capital and balance sheet. No cross-guarantees, no cross-collateralisation. A failure in one cannot reach another.
How we work
Six commitments, testable against any document we sign.
One vehicle per mandate
Each fund is a separate project with its own investors, governance and balance sheet — not a division of a group.
Never found alone
Every country fund is founded with a partner rooted in that country. The local partner originates and represents the national interest; we bring the structure and the investors.
European structure, local origination
Funds are domiciled where institutional capital can legally reach them. Deals are found, diligenced and supported on the ground. The two stay in different hands.
Governance rights, never control
Influence sufficient to hold a fund to its purpose. Never sufficient to direct its money.
Disclosure before it is asked for
Every related-party term is fixed in the constitutive documents, disclosed to investors before commitment, and reported in audited accounts. A term disclosed at the outset costs little. The same term discovered later costs the vehicle its credibility.
Projects
Two funds in development.
They share a sponsor and nothing else.
Botho Botswana Growth Fund
Botswana only
A dedicated vehicle for a market whose institutions are strong and whose access to institutional capital is not. Patient equity for the diversification agenda — infrastructure, energy, agriculture and agroprocessing, beneficiation and downstream industry, digital and financial services.
- Local co-founder
- A company established by the Government of Botswana
- Anchor
- Cornerstone commitment from Government, alongside European institutions and development finance
- Status
- Concept submitted to the Ministry of Finance, September 2026
Africa Investment and Development Fund
Pan-African
A multi-jurisdiction vehicle for markets that meet the same governance-first test, built on the same architecture: local co-founders, an authorised independent manager, and an investment committee the sponsor does not sit on.
- Local co-founder
- Settled per jurisdiction
- Investors
- European institutions, African sovereign and pension funds, development finance institutions, family offices
- Status
- In development
The two funds are separate in law and in finance: separate capital, separate investors, separate governance, no cross-guarantees and no shared liability. Botswana was first examined inside the pan-African structure and moved out of it, because a multi-country mandate cannot bind capital to one member state — and because pooling an investment-grade sovereign with weaker jurisdictions raises the cost of capital for the stronger one.
Who holds what
The Alliance proposed these funds. It holds no power over them.
This is the distinction the whole structure rests on, so it is published rather than explained on request.
| Body | Role | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Local co-founder | Originates transactions, conducts local diligence, represents the national interest, puts proposals before the Investment Committee. | Not the manager. Does not vote on individual investments. |
| ADAFP Investment Company | Co-founds the vehicle, leads investor recruitment, holds one guaranteed seat on the board. | Not the manager. No Investment Committee seat, no controlling interest, no veto. |
| Fund manager | An authorised manager, selected competitively. Legal responsibility for the fund and its portfolio. | Bound by the mandate, exclusions and reporting obligations in the constitutive documents. |
| Investment Committee | Takes every investment and divestment decision by majority, including an independent member. | No member holds a veto or a casting vote. No government and no sponsor is a voting member. |
| ADAFP | Proposes and conceptualises the fund; opens political and institutional networks to it. | No seat, no vote, no shareholding, no authority. Its Endowment Foundation receives 5% of net annual dividends, fixed in the agreement, disclosed to every investor before commitment and reported in audited accounts. |
If you are building a fund, or considering one of ours.
We are interested in conversations with development finance institutions, institutional investors, and governments considering a dedicated vehicle for their own market.
invest@adafp.org