Inachee(noun) [In-a-chee-]: Home Grown Energy in Motion.

By D E Wasake, Principal, Inachee.com

Basic information

Who is behind the venture?

The venture which is a recognized investment club by Capital Markets Authority works this way in summary:

A: Investors put in their money into the fund

An investor seeking a return buys/invests in the different investment plans .Currently 3 types:

·         Madiba – Freedom from bills

·         Enkoni – access to loans up to 2.5 x your investment amount (minimum of 100k for 3 months)

·         Yinziga – Invest between Shs. 10k – 100m and get returns of 1- 20% per month.

The investments are secured by a promissory note issued by the fund to the investor.

B: Fund provides this money to entrepreneurs seeking funding.

This is done via its crowd funding platform or “market place”. It is expected that the cost to the entrepreneur will be higher than the minimum guaranteed to the investor.

Hence if for example the fund is providing a minimum of 5% per month to the investor, you the entrepreneur will need to pay interest of say 10% per month (as the fund has administrative costs as well as profit to make).

The key persons behind it are:

·         Gilbert Mutungi – Operations director and co – founder. A statistician trained by Bank of Uganda.

·         Baraza Omaido – Credit manager and co – founder. Helped found many university investment clubs

·         Isaac Kasule – Investment advisor. Helps businesses prepare for funding.

https://africayouthfund.com/about/

In their own words:

·         As a business you open a Corporate Borrower Account.

·         You then apply for financing from the Fund. We undertake due diligence on your business.

·         The terms of the investment are discussed and finally your offer to the investors.

·         Your business is then listed in the Market Area and marketed for investors to invest in your business.

·         The Fund as a standalone entity may invest in your business in addition to the other investors committing investments to your business.

Our view/tips for success?

1. Crowd funding platform. It is critical that as part of the due diligence or application process you can also “interview” the fund. You need to understand the efforts the fund takes to publicise the “market place” or their crowd funding portal to investors as if there are no investors, you don’t get funded. It is therefore a numbers game – the more investors or general crowd accessing the marketplace, the higher the chance of you being funded. You need to therefore assess the likelihood of the fund attracting sufficient investors via the crowd funding market place.

The fund’s current market place (which we note doesn’t appear regularly updated) can be viewed here:

https://africayouthfund.com/market/

2. Stable and high profits. As the fund needs to pay its investors a fixed return, typically monthly, your business plan and business concept needs to be highly profitable, and hopefully you business is not of a seasonal nature (like agriculture) as you need to generate consistent profit to enable you pay back the fund, so it can pay its investors who need to be given a regular return.

Otherwise best of luck!  If you need further assistance or guidance, contact our team

Disclaimer

Inachee is not an agent or connected to this entity. It is an independent thought leadership and advisory firm.

The information provided is based on our research, experience and if we are able to contact them, by speaking to this entity’s personnel. Whilst we have taken steps to ensure the accuracy of the information presented here, there can be no guarantee that it will remain accurate.