AVPA stands for African Venture Philanthropy Alliance—a Pan-African network of social investors who collaborate to grow the social investment market and increase the effectiveness of social investments in driving impact in Africa by directing the flow of financial, intellectual and human capital into addressing Africa’s most pressing social issues.
Venture Philanthropy (VP) is a high-engagement and long-term approach whereby an investor supports a non-governmental organisation (NGO) or social enterprise to help them maximise social impact. It is a type of impact investment that takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. VP is when philanthropy meets investment.
AVPA believes in the transformative power of venture philanthropy/social investment (VP/SI) and a disciplined approach to the deployment of capital that increases transparency and accountability. Effective VP/SI can generate significant impact through different types of innovative organizations (from non-profits to social enterprises to full-fledged businesses) yielding a spectrum of financial returns, from negative (grants) to low (loans/Impact Funds) to full market rates (Private capital)
AVPA is an investor only Network that aggregates Pan-African investors who are deploying Financial, Human or Intellectual capital.
Our primary purpose is to support the entire continuum of social investors (philanthropists, private equity investors, debt providers, CSR programmes, foundations, government agencies and DFIs) as they deploy their resources in a more collaborative and catalytic manner in order to achieve exponential societal impact.
Social investment (SI) is investment that’s intended to deliver a positive and measurable social impact, with varying expectations of Financial returns; from no Financial returns (grants) to full market rate returns (private capital).
AVPA is part of a growing global network that currently includes:
- The European Venture Philanthropy Association (https://evpa.eu.com/)
- The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (https://avpn.asia/)
- Latimpacto (http://latimpacto.org/en-us/About-us)
Social investment (SI) is investment that’s intended to deliver a positive and measurable social impact, with varying expectations of Financial returns; from no Financial returns (grants) to full market rate returns (private capital . Impact Investment is a subset of SI that aims to to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return, in most cases such investments have focused on financial returns—however minimal.
AVPA aims to be supportive, collaborative and additive to existing investor networks in Africa in the following ways:
- AVPA will connect and support providers of capital across all “silos” along the entire continuum of capital—from foundations to corporates, investors, family offices, DFI’s, Government to equity and debt providers.
- The AVPA network will also include networks of Providers oh Human and Intellectual capital like professional service firms, academia, Research organizations and public sector actors,
- Promotes the achievement of a disciplined approach to "impact first" and with Impact investments.
- Helps members connect seamlessly to the largest community of global social investors: i.e. 1000+ organisations that are members of our global sister networks EVPA, AVPN and the recently established Latin American Venture Philanthropy Network (Latimpacto).
- A knowledge Hub – This will be a platform where members will be able to not only access but also contribute content (Publications, videos, Webinar recordings etc) to the body of Knowledge on Social investments in Africa and beyond.
- Deal Share Platform – This is a platform where members will be able to list their investable deals and attract co-investors and or find investment opportunities. Members will also be able to access Non-Financial support on the platform.
- AVPA Training programs – These will be designed to respond to member needs in helping to shape and grow the African social investment community.
- Virtual programs – These will include but not be limited to Webinars, Virtual speaker series and trainings and Living room sessions. Physical convenings will resume post-Covid-19.
AVPA is part of a growing global network that currently includes:
- The European Venture Philanthropy Association (https://evpa.eu.com/)
- The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (https://avpn.asia/)
- Latimpacto (http://latimpacto.org/en-us/About-us)
AVPA will open for membership in early 2021. Any organization based in Africa or interested in investing Africa and that is committed to deploying financial, human and intellectual resources more effectively to increase impact in Africa will be eligible to join the network once it is formally launched. In the meantime, interested organizations can enjoy the full suite of benefits as offered by AVPA. Please reach out to any of the following people (depending on your region) for pre-registration formalities or any related questions:
Kenya: nkairo@avpa.africa
Nigeria: tadegbitemoore@avpa.africa
South Africa: faswani@avpa.africa
SROI stands for either Social Return on Investment or Sustainable Return on Investment. It is a principle-based method for assessing environmental or social value not included in the financial value. It can be used to measure the impact of projects, stakeholders as well as improve investment performance.
Impact enterprises are companies, which pursue commercial as well as social impact objectives, including inclusive businesses and social enterprises.
