The Project
Open Capital Advisors (OCA) is a leading strategy consulting firm focused on impact investments in frontier markets with deep experience across Sub-Saharan Africa. This research project focused on the need for catalytic debt among small and growing businesses (SGBs) in Africa, bringing the voice of SGBs into the conversation. OCA leveraged its strong relationships with more than 1,000 SGBs to conduct consultations with key small business owners, support programs, and investors—analyzing data to identify specific opportunities and key structural characteristics that could underpin the design of future catalytic capital debt funds.
Value and Outcomes
While existing research considers the SGB finance gap, OCA further segmented the need with a specific look at dynamic SGBs in sub-Saharan Africa, documenting how catalytic debt could enable their growth for value chain and asset financing. This effort focuses on capital challenges faced by businesses that are too small for commercial capital but have cash flow potential to repay. The goal is to bring the on-the-ground reality into catalytic capital conversations and identify potential ways to enable participation from investors, which could help bridge gaps and drive widespread economic and social impact.
OCA’s final report focuses on the agriculture and health care sectors. It identifies significant capital gaps, illustrates market opportunities, elevates the voices of business owners and makes recommendations for catalytic debt providers to support small business growth.
For more information on OCA, visit their website.