Situation
OCA was mandated by a European Development Finance Institution to create a new strategy for one of its funds, a private equity fund focused on South Sudan. The fund had already made initial investments, but required a new, robust strategy to expand pipeline and develop streamlined risk assessment practices, as well as a plan to leverage blended capital to scale. The goal was to expand its capital base significantly in 5 years and prove the viability of the post-conflict country.
Our Process
OCA supported the Private Equity Fund by:
- Performing a detailed review of fund operations including an assessment of processes from pipeline through disbursement and overall strategy
- Conducting strategic planning to review operational changes that would increase efficiency, enable deployment of more capital
- Developing a new growth plan including a detailed fund financial model and related strategic plan
- Determining a blended finance strategy that leveraged concessional junior equity to de-risk senior investors, given the challenging nature of the fund’s target market
- Creating an investor presentation to communicate new strategy for next round of fundraising
Based on our strategic planning exercise, we created a new growth plan and important operational changes that included a “fast-track” investment review process and new milestones for business development. This, combined with our financial strategy, were accepted by the fund and its Board and this work led to a process that succeeded in expanding available capital and deploying fresh investments.
