ImpactAlpha, August 26 – Global consultancy Palladium has advised and moved capital towards impact initiatives for decades. Now it has launched its own fund to move more capital, targeting a $40 million raise to invest in small businesses in Africa.
Palladium has also made its first two investments from the fund: a woman-owned shea nut harvesting business in Ghana called Naasakle and off-grid solar company PEG Africa.
Palladium Impact Fund I is targeting investments in two sectors that have an outsized impact on women: clean energy and agriculture. (Women perform most agricultural activities and energy-consuming household tasks.) Palladium will make investments of up to $2 million and is looking to impact 500,000 rural households and create 3,500 jobs in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.
The firm has seeded the fund with $5 million of its own capital. Palladium anticipates raising the remaining commitments from foundations, family offices, pension funds and institutional investors, which would distinguish the fund from others on the continent, which often rely on development finance institutions as anchor investors.
