Two colleagues discussing charts in office.

The Yaro Perspective

Yaro was founded on the conviction that the private sector must be a primary force for strong socio-economic development of SSA. Major drivers for such growth include:

  • significant and rapid increase in the number of economic-scale companies
  • higher levels of “aspirational entrepreneurship”
  • greater infusion of growth capital investments targeted at SMEs

Addressing these issues should unlock extraordinary opportunities not only for entrepreneurs, but also for investors.

Three women collaborating on a project.

The Problem

The dearth of “economic scale" companies can be attributed to a vicious cycle which ultimately leads to limited development impact and subpar investment returns:

  • A fragmented ecosystem of numerous “very small” businesses lacking the capabilities to innovate, scale, and deliver systemic impact, and very few large companies that could serve as “training grounds” for aspiring entrepreneurs
  • Slow growth trajectories of most SMEs, significantly as a result of limited aspiration, insufficient capital, and scarce managerial resources with experience in building larger enterprises.
  • Limited investor and entrepreneur expertise in building economic-scale, high growth companies.

Yaro’s mission, as well as our investment and portfolio management strategies, are informed by, and focused on addressing these underlying problems.

Two colleagues reviewing a blueprint together.

Our Mission

To enable the transformation of emerging enterprises into anchor companies with consequential impact in Sub-Saharan Africa, through growth-capital investments and active coaching.

The Yaro Approach

Our approach to building value can be characterized as an “invest and transform” strategy that demands a high degree of entrepreneurial and operational expertise from our team. That strategy encompasses both a wide and deep search to “discover” potential market leaders, development of world-class enterprise mindset and skills, and hands-on long-term coaching.

Highlights of Yaro’s Value Creation Model

  • Focus on transformational growth potential, with strong proprietary positions.

  • Prioritize enterprises with high employment generation potential.

  • Preference for consumer-facing products and services.

  • Early alignment with enterprise partners on aspirational scale.

  • Emphasis on development of world-class products and business processes.

  • Proprietary experiential program to facilitate scaling and derisk investments.