Alitheia Identity Managers (AIM) has partnered with Capria Ventures, a global impact investment firm that works with local fund managers to accelerate the flow of capital in emerging markets.

AIM is a joint venture between two established women-owned fund management companies - Alitheia Capital of Nigeria, and Identity Development Fund Managers of South Africa.

The PE firm is managing the Alitheia Identity Fund, a Sub-Saharan Africa fund investing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with high growth potential realized through efficiency and regional expansion strategies.

A key philosophy of the fund is that high performing female entrepreneurs are not present where typical fund managers seek investments, resulting in significant lost opportunity for such entrepreneurs to scale their business and lost opportunity for fund managers to back formidable high-growth businesses.

McKinsey reports that this gender gap is not just a moral and social issue but also part of a critical economic challenge, with over $12tn of global GDP growth left on the table.

“Alitheia Identity Fund is looking to leverage this missed opportunity to deliver attractive returns for its investors," said 'Tokunboh Ishmael, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alitheia Identity.

AIF intends to raise $100m in two closings and is expected to yield financial returns in high growth sectors such as agriculture, agro-processing, and manufacturing across targeted countries.

It will provide capital of between $2-5m to high potential mid-sized companies in target countries to transform them into local and regional market leaders.

The 10-year fund received a $12.5m commitment from the African Development Bank (AfDB) in December 2015.

The AfDB’s Special Envoy on Gender, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, said: “The project has excellent gender effects that will arise from the increased opportunities for women.”

Anne-Marie Chidzero, Managing Partner at Alitheia Identity, said: “Together with the African Development Bank’s commitment of $12.5mn in the Alitheia Identity Fund, partnering with Capria to access their extensive network and resources will enable me and my colleagues, Polo Leteka and ‘Tokunboh Ishmael, to finance and support growth businesses, particularly those led by women and gender-diverse teams.”

Capria was founded in 2012 by Dave Richards and Will Poole, experienced entrepreneurs, scaled operators, and early-stage global investors to develop scaled and profitable risk capital funds in emerging markets addressing the "missing middle" market opportunity.

Capria launched the first global accelerator for impact fund managers in September 2015 and recently announced the launch of Capria Emerging Managers Fund, a $100m fund taking anchor LP positions that will invest in equity and debt funds targeting early-stage impact businesses across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Capria's financial supporters include Ceniarth, Sorenson Impact Foundation, Bill Gates, Mohandas Pai, and the International Finance Corporation, a division of the World Bank.