Uhuru Growth Fund I: Enhancing impact in West Africa through an added value approach

In 2021, Finnfund invested 10 million US dollars in Uhuru Growth Fund I (UGF I), a 181 million US dollar PE fund managed by Uhuru Partners (Uhuru). UGF I’s investments are focused on high-potential consumer and financial services companies across West Africa. Uhuru aims to drive growth and value creation in dynamic markets, while maintaining a strong commitment to responsible investment and impact.

The UGF I portfolio is currently comprised of six companies spanning manufacturing, retail, insurance, food, and IT. 45% of the portfolio companies operate in Nigeria, 31% in Ghana, and 24% in Côte d’Ivoire. The Uhuru team brings deep regional expertise with professionals based in each location.

Finnfund’s role in fund investments

Finnfund makes fund investments to supplement direct investments and enhance impacts in target countries. Finnfund participates in the governance of the funds in which it invests (e.g., as a member of a fund’s Limited Partner Advisory Committee (LPAC)) to ensure the proper governance of the funds, including the efficient and effective execution of the funds’ investment and impact strategies.

In the case of UGF I, Finnfund holds a seat on the LPAC and has played an active role, with Senior Portfolio Manager Sarita Bartlett serving as Chair in 2024. Within the terms of the agreement, Finnfund works closely with Uhuru, providing advice and guidance as needed.

“The resilience that Uhuru has shown during the past years has been exceptional” Bartlett says. “Even during the tough times they have kept focus on the long-term goals.”

The LPAC also has an Environmental and Social (E&S) Sub-committee in which Finnfund’s Senior E&S Adviser Sylvie Fraboulet-Jussila actively participates. The E&S Sub-Committee focuses on overseeing the Fund’s adherence to its E&S requirements. It provides feedback, input, and support on compliance, as well as on measures to reduce and better manage E&S risks and to strengthen positive impacts.

Uhuru’s value adding approach

For each of their portfolio companies, Uhuru delivers hands-on added value. The team provides operational support, active board representation, development of performance heat maps, and tracking of key risks and action items, which contribute to driving growth, strengthening governance, and delivering measurable impact.

Uhuru also advises portfolio companies on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues spanning gender diversity, climate change, quality job creation, and sustainable sourcing. Under the leadership of their dedicated ESG and Impact Manager Kim Laguda, Uhuru is committed to supporting their portfolio companies in implementing ESG improvements and enhancing impact.

For each portfolio company, during the initial investment phases, key ESG issues and focus areas are identified. Uhuru then creates detailed ESAPs which outline ESG goals and initiatives to be implemented. To ensure buy-in from all stakeholders, Ms. Laguda highlights ESG as a business case, emphasising the risks to the bottom line if ESG compliance is not met.

Through the introduction of a proprietary impact measurement system, all portfolio companies report their impact data to Uhuru quarterly. Uhuru closely reviews and analyses this data to periodically refine ESAPs and monitor progress towards ESG goals. Uhuru tracks metrics such as jobs supported, percentage of female employees, and number of clients served, among many others. They have also achieved 100% tracking of scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions.

Everyday Supermarket: A UGF success story

Everyday Supermarket (Everyday), a UGF I portfolio company, is a leading supermarket chain in southern Nigeria, bringing modern retail experiences to underserved cities and communities. Currently, Everyday operates 15 stores across 6 cities in southern Nigeria which are supported by a central distribution centre. With strong local roots and ongoing support from Uhuru, the company is expanding its footprint and enhancing operational performance.

Uhuru has made four investments in Everyday totalling 25,7 million US dollars and is currently the majority shareholder at 92% ownership. With majority board representation, Uhuru provides active governance, strategic oversight, and hands-on added value. Uhuru has supported Everyday’s continued expansion, major leadership transitions, debt refinancing, and operational improvements.

Uhuru also leads the Board’s ESG Committee which provides robust oversight of ESG and impact strategies at Everyday, ensuring disciplined implementation, continuous improvement, and clear accountability. The ESG Committee has successfully guided Everyday in implementing several ESG and gender diversity initiatives, and Everyday has demonstrated year-on-year progress in key performance areas. Sustainability investments have not only driven material cost savings and strengthened operational resilience, but also positioned Everyday for responsible, profitable, and long-term growth.

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Making gender diversity the norm

Since the time of Uhuru’s initial investment, promoting gender diversity at Everyday has been a high priority. Under Uhuru’s guidance, Everyday has hired women at every level including high-level leadership positions such as CFO and Head of HR, as well as middle management and lower-level positions.

Implementing gender diversity at Everyday was not without challenges, as it had not previously been part of the company’s culture. Uhuru has worked hard to manage this strategic change and garner stakeholder support. These efforts started with establishing buy-in at the Board and ESG Committee level and then diffusing to management and lower levels of the company. Now, the attitude and culture at Everyday have changed to reflect Uhuru’s progressive mindset. In addition, as part of Uhuru’s Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Strategy, Uhuru provided technical assistance to Everyday, for gender analysis and the development of a gender action plan, with a goal to build 2X alignment. The scope of this ongoing project includes conducting a gender diagnostic; including an assessment against the 2X criteria, creating a gender action plan, and implementing some actions identified in the gender action plan.

Ensuring the creation of high-quality jobs

One challenge for Everyday has been high employee turnover rates. To address this, Uhuru has focused heavily on improving job quality and employee satisfaction. Initiatives have included ensuring all employees are paid a fair minimum wage, providing salary increases, improving benefits such as health insurance and pension, and reducing working hours within standard limits.

Uhuru has also focused specifically on women employees. With support from Uhuru, Everyday provides tailored training to women and supports their career progression. Additionally, Everyday has established a robust maternity leave program which includes more time for women to stay at home and allows women to ease back into working life. These benefits also extend to paternity leave.

Job quality initiatives are all monitored through measurement of key metrics, and results have shown improvements in employee satisfaction and reduced employee turnover. Everyday now boasts an impressive 94% employee retention rate. Everyday also actively engages with their suppliers to promote fair working conditions and high job quality throughout the entire value chain.

Growing despite macroeconomic headwinds

In recent years, Nigeria has faced a severe macroeconomic crisis which has created a challenging business environment. For Everyday, this resulted in liquidity constraints, supply chain issues, and high costs, making it difficult to keep shelves stocked in stores. With the support of Uhuru, Everyday has managed to adapt relatively well and perform in line with expectations despite the challenges.

As the price of foreign goods increased, Everyday turned to local suppliers for better priced products. This switch not only kept costs down, but also benefited the local economy. Everyday introduced new product categories in stores to bring in even more local products, and now, Everyday prioritizes 100% local sourcing.

Uhuru has made continued investments in new store locations, supply chain efficiency, and technology to drive future growth. Despite the risk of investing in growth during a time of macroeconomic hardship, Uhuru’s investment has laid the foundation for Everyday’s future success. As the economy has begun to stabilize in 2025, Everyday now holds a competitive position in the market. Since 2024, Everyday’s gross profit margin and customer traffic have improved, and they remain focused on expansion. In October 2025, Everyday launched their 15th store at a new location in Bayelsa, and they plan to open several new stores in 2026.

Published on 11 February 2026