The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund has made an anchor investment in Sabou Capital, a Nigeria-based impact fund focused on scaling small and medium-sized enterprises across West and Central Africa, as institutional capital begins to flow more deliberately toward secondary cities and underserved regional markets.

Young people across secondary cities in the region are already building businesses that respond to local economic needs, from food systems and manufacturing to logistics and consumer goods. However, many of these companies struggle to scale not because of weak demand or unviable models, but because access to structured capital and investor readiness infrastructure remains limited.

Sabou Capital positions itself as an intermediary addressing that gap, by supporting businesses that are operationally viable but often excluded from conventional funding pipelines.

“Before investing, we work with companies to strengthen financial reporting, governance, and documentation. After investing, we support operational growth and climate resilience. The goal is to help businesses stabilize and scale, unlocking their next phase of growth while creating jobs that offer real dignity and economic security,” said Surayyah Ahmad, Partner at Sabou Capital.

“We target secondary cities and regions that mainstream capital bypasses. Many of these businesses are investment-ready: the revenues are there, the model works, and the market is real. Yet they are excluded because they lack the investor-readiness infrastructure required by conventional capital,” she added.

Sabou Capital invests in sectors including agriculture, healthcare, logistics and mobility, fintech and climate technology, with cheque sizes ranging from $300,000 to $2 million across Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Nigeria. The fund is targeting final close by Q3 2027.

Across its portfolio, Sabou is already backing companies embedded in essential value chains. For example, Tomato Jos is rebuilding Nigeria’s tomato supply chain while supporting smallholder farmers. In Ogun State, a dried fruit processor is developing a consumer brand from local agricultural production, while creating employment for youth and women across the value chain. In Cameroon, a clothing manufacturer in Douala sources locally and employs a workforce that is 90% women, including refugees affected by the Anglophone crisis.

These businesses highlight both the scale of opportunity and the constraints they face in accessing growth capital. Many are revenue-generating and operationally active but struggle to meet formal investor requirements related to reporting systems, governance structures or documentation standards.

This gap, according to Sabou Capital, limits job creation and slows broader economic development in regions where capital access remains uneven.

“Many of these businesses have already proven their models. The issue is not viability, but alignment between how they grow and how capital is structured,” said Christian Amouo, Co-founding Partner at Sabou Capital. “Our role is to bridge that disconnect so businesses can move forward on terms that reflect their realities.”

Sabou Capital estimates its portfolio will help create approximately 4,200 direct jobs and impact nearly 50,000 lives, with a focus on women and youth participation in the formal economy. The fund also aims to strengthen local value retention by enabling businesses to scale within their communities rather than rely on external value chains.

The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund is a $200 million initiative backing African-owned and led investment platforms focused on inclusive growth. The investment in Sabou Capital reflects its broader strategy of supporting funds targeting underserved entrepreneurs and geographies.