Mobilising capital for frontier markets across Africa

Businesses in frontier markets in Africa have historically struggled to access the financing they need to grow. We work with businesses and investors to address this challenge.  

The Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA) supports the long-term growth of frontier markets across the African continent. We do this by working closely with development finance institutions (DFIs) and local businesses to help mobilise capital to where it is needed.   

We currently operate in five markets across the continent: Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. 

Our country-based teams connect companies with our partner development finance institutions to provide investment readiness support and facilitate long-term sustainable investment in the markets where we operate. We work with a broad coalition of companies, investors, governments and donors to help build business enabling environments in frontier markets across Africa. 

ARIA was launched in 2021. Since then, we have unlocked more than $45 million in DFI investment, built a pipeline of investable opportunities and delivered multiple technical assistance projects for companies in frontier markets.  

The initiative is funded by British International Investment, FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, and Proparco.