Southern Africa—USAID Mobilizing Investment Project

African markets present a broad range of attractive investment opportunities in emerging sectors, such as digital and technology infrastructure (especially fintech), education, and healthcare, as well as the more traditional sectors of agribusiness, logistics, financial services, and energy. South Africa, a top investment destination on the continent, is becoming an important gateway to new opportunities in other Southern African Development Community countries.

Despite bright spots, gaps persist in the ecosystem to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), tech-enabled companies, and growth businesses, creating challenges for businesses as they maneuver through successive stages of their growth lifecycle. Chief among those gaps is the lack of growth capital to scale promising businesses that obtained early funding. Increasing investment supports the expansion of the private sector and catalyzes economic growth in the Southern Africa region.

The USAID Southern Africa Mobilizing Investment Project addresses a spectrum of funding gaps in Southern Africa’s investment ecosystem, with the aim of catalyzing private capital into sectors that can increase employment, decrease poverty, and reduce inequality within the Southern African region.

We use a combination of technical assistance and catalytic grant funding to mobilize private sector investment into high-growth sectors, and to strengthen the skills, relationships, and information flows necessary to change market behavior to create a more dynamic and sustainable investment ecosystem.

The USAID Mobilizing Investment project allows the U.S. Government to work closely with the private sector to shape activities that unlock business opportunities, particularly those that drive trade and investment into and out of African markets.

Sample Activities

• Mobilize catalytic capital to establish sustainable investment flows into sectors previously underserved by investors.
• Develop the capacity of fund managers.
• Work with businesses and capital providers to identify bankable investment opportunities and perform due diligence.
• Facilitate connections between U.S. and Southern African capital providers.