Equity investments

Oikocredit is a social investor that finances growing businesses in emerging markets. We focus our equity investments in 33 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. We support businesses active in the financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy sectors.

What we look for – investment focus:

We look for the following in our partners:

• Dedication to positive social impact: Our partners must be actively working towards improving the lives of low-income people.
• Growth stage of business: Our partners must be generating revenue and looking for capital to expand. We want to be the catalyst that helps our partners achieve their vision for their next stage of expansion.
• Active in our focus sectors: Financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy are the sectors where we have over 40 years of experience and can add value through active engagement. We are also interested and active in new ways of doing business including the digitalisation of these sectors.
• Leading governance aspirations: Our partners should have or want a robust and strong governance structure, recognising the value it creates for sustained growth.
• Investment size: We aim to invest between € 2m and € 10m in each of our partners, although exceptions can be made.
• Minority equity stakes available: We aim to hold minority stakes with at least one board seat.
• Exit alignment: We seek partners who will support our exit at the end of the investment horizon.

Read more about our current equity partners here.

What we offer – more than just finance:

We are focussed on supporting the sustainable growth of our partners, with the goal of generating meaningful social impact as well as appropriate financial returns.

We do this through offering:

• Long-term patient capital: Our investment horizon is 7-10 years.
• Follow-on possibilities: Oikocredit can consider follow-on investments for further growth at any time during our investment horizon, depending on the proposition.
• Flexible and active engagement through the board and our shareholder representative: We support our partners’ businesses by introducing an active board member with skills in the impact, financial or commercial space. We also aim to have regular engagement with our partners’ management teams to provide opportunities and support that will add value through our shareholder representative.
• Sector knowledge: We are highly focussed in the financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy sectors, learning lessons along the way to help our partners going forward. We also have specialist professionals within these sectors to support our partners when necessary.
• Leveraging our networks: We can connect our partners to our local, regional and international networks. This can help establish international business contacts and create opportunities such as new investors in support of social and commercial success.

Grow your business with Oikocredit

Talk to us about the difference Oikocredit can make to your business.