Jitesh Ladwa

Founding Partner
Mkoba Private Equity Fund
June 2013 – Present (1 year)Dar es Salaam
Mkoba Private Equity Fund responds to the emerging market opportunity in Africa. It is designed to fill a gap identified by its’ founding partners in the current range of private equity available to the region. Mkoba offers a unique opportunity for investors to participate in private equity investments in Sub Saharan Africa. Mkoba is distinctive in its features and approach, largely due to its creation by general partners with deep local roots, diverse experience and deep operational knowledge of the countries and their political and social contexts. Mkoba targets investments in well-defined sectors and countries mainly through acquiring influential minority stakes in high growth SMEs with ability to influence trajectory. Strategic country selection criteria are developed with a particular focus on high growth post-socialist countries undergoing liberalization and post-conflict countries rebuilding their economies.
Mkoba primary target countries include Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Secondary target countries include Angola, DRC, South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. Mkoba focuses on key sectors with the greatest growth potential and development impact given the Fund’s comparative strategic advantage and niche: (a) agri-business and -processing; (b) services and manufacturing (c) urban renewal (d) financial services, (e) innovative ventures in renewable energy and ICT.

Mkoba Fund has an explicit focus on developing the African private sector: through investment in African based, owned and/or managed businesses and joint ventures between local and international entrepreneurs. It targets equity investments ranging from $0.5 to 15 million mainly through providing growth capital for high-growth small and medium sized companies. The fund provides limited venture capital for innovative green-field companies as well as restructuring and buy-out capital.