African Development Bank (AfDB) has earmarked a $15 million equity funds for Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in Anglophone West Africa including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia.

The fund will be managed by Verod Capital Growth Fund, a private equity fund that will make investments in high growth middle market companies in the selected countries on behalf of the AfDB.

With the fund, AfDB intends to support companies in consumer driven sectors such as light industrials, fast moving consumer goods, education, financial services and agro processing. The ticket size for each investment will be between $ 5 million and $20 million.

“The Fund will help accelerate investments in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the West African region. This is key to job and wealth creation, knowledge transfer and scaling up of local businesses,” said Abdu Mukhtar, the African Development Bank’s Director of Industrial and Trade Development.

“The Fund will provide an important vehicle to growing SMEs in Africa, which are a key pillar to the continent’s industrialization drive,” he added.

Verod Capital Partners, is an experienced indigenous private equity firm with extensive knowledge of the Anglophone West Africa market. It’s choice by the pan-African Bank may not be unconnected with its strong record of accomplishment in SME investments, which has seen it invested in 16 SME companies in the region.