CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), a West Africa-focused private equity firm, has reached a $76 million first close for its second investment vehicle, the CCA Growth Fund II. The milestone strengthens the firm’s ability to provide long-term growth capital to promising small and medium-sized enterprises across the region.
The fund has a target size of $120 million and will build on the strategy of CCA’s first growth fund, which focused on helping high-growth SMEs develop into larger regional businesses. The new vehicle will expand its geographic reach, with Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal serving as its anchor markets.
CCA Growth Fund II will invest in businesses across six priority sectors: agribusiness, industrials, consumer goods and services, healthcare, education and financial services. The fund is designed to address the financing gap between early-stage capital and larger private equity funds, providing businesses with the resources needed to expand operations, enter new markets and strengthen their organisations.
The first close attracted a combination of international development finance institutions and African institutional investors. Returning backers include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (BII) and SCM Capital. New investors include the Dutch Good Growth Fund, CardinalStone Partners and Nigerian pension funds Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, Access ARM Pensions and FCMB Pensions.
The strong participation of domestic pension funds is particularly significant. It indicates growing interest among African institutional investors in private-market opportunities and in financing businesses capable of generating both financial returns and broader economic impact.
For the IFC, the investment is intended to help close the long-term financing gap confronting West African SMEs. The development finance institution has highlighted the importance of SMEs to job creation and economic opportunity, while supporting CCA’s efforts to connect high-potential companies with capital and expertise.
CCA’s first fund provides an indication of the strategy behind the new vehicle. The firm says its predecessor made commitments to seven SMEs, helping enable more than 8,000 jobs and supporting another 1,000 SMEs across portfolio-company value chains. Growth Fund II will seek to build on that record while pursuing opportunities across a wider portion of West Africa.
The new fund is also 2X qualified, reflecting a focus on shared prosperity, greater equity and environmental sustainability. CCA says its investment approach combines capital with operational support, industry networks and local expertise to help entrepreneurs scale sustainably.
The fund comes at a time when access to growth capital remains a major challenge for African businesses. Many companies have established products and customers but struggle to secure the long-term financing required for expansion. Private equity vehicles such as CCAGF II can therefore play an important role in helping businesses move from local success to regional scale.
Led by Femi Ogunjimi, Yomi Jemibewon and Shirley Somuah, CCA will now seek to deploy the capital into high-potential companies across its target markets. With $76 million already committed, the firm has established a strong foundation for its second fund and a larger push to build regional champions from West African SMEs.
Leave a Reply