Who we help
Funding and investment readiness for African businesses
ARK Group International helps small and growing businesses (SMEs) across Africa find the right funding, become ready for investment, and raise the catalytic capital and diaspora investment they need to grow.
Is your business in the missing middle?
Many of Africa’s most promising businesses sit in a gap known as the missing middle. They are too large for microfinance, but not yet ready for investment from banks or development finance institutions. Businesses in this gap commonly employ between 5 and 250 people and need roughly US$20,000 to US$2 million to grow. In 2018 the International Finance Corporation put the unmet demand for finance among micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa at US$331 billion.
If your business solves a real problem, earns or is close to earning its own income, and is ready to grow, but the right finance keeps falling just out of reach, this is the gap ARK works in. We have worked across more than 15 sectors, from clean energy, clean water and waste management to health tech, agritech, education and the creative arts.
How ARK helps
Find the right funding.
FundBridge, ARK’s platform, gives you a catalogue of funding opportunities and grants for African businesses and organisations, so you can see which fit your business and when they close.
Build a plan funders believe.
Through Built to Scale, our five-week accelerator, you map your funding landscape, strengthen your funding proposition and build a clear strategy for growing your trading income.
Become investment-ready.
Investment readiness is the point at which a business has the track record, numbers, governance and documents an investor needs to reach a decision. In Built to Scale you define your ideal investor profile and shape an investment offer that addresses the risks investors worry about.
Meet investors and funders.
When your business is ready, we introduce you to diaspora investors and other funders looking for ventures like yours.
We guide you to write strong funding applications, but we do not write them for you. That way the skills, and the story, stay with your business.
Building your funding in layers
Few growing businesses raise everything at once. We help you build your funding in layers: grants and other catalytic capital first, to prove your model and remove the risks that put investors off, then investment on the strength of what that first funding made possible. We call this disaggregated blended finance: the blend is built around your business, one source of funding at a time, rather than inside a large deal you could never be part of.
How it works
- 1
Explore
Browse funding opportunities on FundBridge and find the ones that fit your business.
- 2
Apply
Apply for Built to Scale, our five-week accelerator for high-potential organisations across Africa.
- 3
Prepare
Work with ARK to become investment-ready: strengthen your trading income and prepare what funders and investors ask for.
- 4
Connect
Meet diaspora investors and other funders who are looking for ventures like yours.
What this looks like in practice
Freetown Waste Transformers, Sierra Leone
Freetown Waste Transformers turns the city’s organic waste into electricity and fertiliser. ARK helped the company judge which grant fitted its business, and it won one from the GSMA Innovation Fund, one of 10 chosen from 335 applications across 43 countries. The results helped it secure a US$3.9 million investment from Climate Fund Managers, with ARK advising through 12 months of talks.
Read the case studyDipesh Pabari
Co-Founder of The FlipFlopi Project, Kenya
“Having a partner like ARK has been incredibly useful to getting us to the next stage of sustainability.”
Caleb Edwards
Founder and CEO of Wamiagro, Ghana
“They have added a lot of value and have helped us to articulate our vision and impact to stakeholders.”
Questions businesses ask
Which businesses can ARK help?
Small and growing businesses, social enterprises and charities creating impact across Africa that are too large for microfinance but not yet ready for institutional investment, including ventures led by the diaspora. ARK works in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda, across more than 15 sectors.
What kinds of funding can African SMEs get?
The main kinds are grants, concessional loans on better-than-market terms, investment from impact investors and development finance institutions, and diaspora investment. Many businesses combine them, using grants and other catalytic capital first to reduce risk, so that investment can follow.
What does ARK’s support cost a business?
FundBridge has a free version with limited access, and paid plans with fuller access are being introduced. Built to Scale is a paid five-week accelerator, with two levels of place and payment in instalments available; prices are on its page.
What does “investment-ready” mean?
A business is investment-ready when it has the track record, numbers, governance and documents an investor needs to reach a decision. Getting there usually means showing reliable trading income and a clear plan for growing it.
What do investors look for in an African business?
Investors look for a track record and reliable trading income, clear financial numbers, sound governance, the documents they need to reach a decision, and an honest view of the risks in the business and how they will be managed. A credible team and a clear plan for growth matter too.
