Enko Capital Managers (ECM), managers of the Enko Africa Private Equity Fund (EAPEF), has provided expansion capital to Software Technologies Ltd (STL), a software solutions provider and IT training company.

The deal marks the seventh investment for EAPEF and will support STL’s expansion strategy into selected African territories as well as growth in its home market of Kenya. 

Specifically, the investment will be used to provide funding to roll out its existing suite of software products into other African markets, as well as to expand the outreach of the Institute of Software Technologies (IST), its training subsidiary.

Ralph Gilchrist, ECM’s director, who led the deal for EAPEF, said: “Enko is delighted to invest in STL at this stage of its growth and to partner with the company in its African expansion plans.” 

“This marks EAPEF’s first investment in East Africa, but as a pan-African investor, Enko is also well placed to facilitate cross-border growth in Africa and believes that STL’s established suite of software products will be well received in other key African markets, particularly those that place a premium on corporate transparency and governance. We look forward to contributing to this process.”

STL is a Kenyan group established in 1991 by Jyoti Mukherjee, a Kenyan female entrepreneur of Indian origin. 

The company specializes in developing its own software solutions in the areas of HCM, Contract Lifecyle & Governance. 

STL’s solutions are deployed via the SaaS model on the cloud and STL benefits from a top-tier client portfolio in both the public and private sectors across various industries (e.g. banks, manufacturing, education, telecommunications, energy and agriculture) in Africa.

Through its investment, EAPEF intends to contribute to STL’s operational and strategic performance through its participation at board level. 

Cyrille Nkontchou, ECM Managing Partner, said: “We are particularly excited about STL’s fast-growing IT training business that provides state-of-the-art certified IT training to corporates as well as university students. There is a shortage of skilled IT professionals in Africa but also globally. IST is well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity building on Enko’s expertise in education in Africa.”

Chets Mukherjee, Operations Director at STL, added: “We are extremely pleased to have Enko on board. STL has been growing steadily across Africa over the past few years and with Enko’s assistance, this will accelerate our growth rates and allow us to expand our outreach further afield including Francophone Africa. Enko’s experience with growing business across Africa will be invaluable during this time.”