SKLD Integrated Services (formerly School Kits Limited) had big dreams but a humble beginning: it started with 2 staff members and a single retail shop 24 years ago in Lagos, Nigeria. Over the years it has expanded to 7 brick-and-mortar retail shops in 3 cities across the country, serving over 500 schools and, via its e-commerce store, skit.ng, serves a growing customer base of over 25,000 annually, shipping to over 20 cities across Nigeria. From operating mainly as a trading shop, the company also expanded its operations to include a factory, its own retail brand, humanitarian aid supplies, and a wholesale school wear supply. SKLD has established a presence as a manufacturer with the capacity to produce nearly 10,000 garments per month through its factory in Lagos.
Mrs. Temilola Adepetun founded SKLD to solve a challenge that she, like most working mothers, have experienced: the difficulty of back-to-school shopping. As one headline puts it, Mrs Adepetun, turned her sons’ school list into a business, serving working mothers and schools across the country and supporting local industry through manufacturing. Women make up the bulk of SKLD’s customers and 41% of its workforce are women, highlighting that across its value chain – from the boardroom to the factory floor and consumer side – women are significantly represented and served. Alitheia IDF identified SKLD impact on women and invested in the company.
Similarly, in South Africa, Ivili Loboya, owners of Africa's first commercial cashmere production facility, spearheaded by Lilitha Mahlati, is revitalizing textile markets. By leveraging wool harvested by over 3 million communal sheep farmers, many of whom are women, Ivili is creating opportunities and improving income for rural households. Through its vertically integrated value chain, Ivili has contributed over R30 million (≈$1.5M) to the local economy, created hundreds of jobs, and empowered partner farmers (the company has trained over 1,500 farmers and 140 agricultural extension workers, demonstrating the transformative power of women's inclusion in manufacturing).
Both Ivili and SKLD are part of Alitheia IDF’s portfolio of manufacturing companies led by women, employing significant number of women, and serving majority women. In addition, AIF has invested in businesses like Jetstream Africa in Ghana, Lupiya in Zambia and Rentoza in South Africa that are harnessing the power of technology to support the manufacturing process by improving access to local and international markets, financial services for effective trading, and formalisation of informal sectors.
Gender impact is encoded into the DNA of our investment process as we operate on the strong, data-informed belief that by empowering women as a historically underinvested demographic we can tap Africa’s potential and create a prosperous future for all. In other words, we acknowledge that women, as Hillary Clinton famous said, “are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.” And we tap women’s immense economic power by investing in them wherever they may be in the manufacturing pipeline from payments to farming, factories, ecommerce, and logistics; from the distribution and production side to the consumer side; from the funding table as investors to the business side as entrepreneurs.
African manufacturers in agro-processing and textile are projected to record fastest growth with annual revenues of $122 billion (agro-processing) and $27 billion (clothing and footwear) by 2025. Thus, AIF’s portfolio, through our investment in agribusiness and textile manufacturers (and tech-enabled businesses that support manufacturing and distribution) is investing for a bold African future. And, indeed, the African and the young are the world’s future given that Africa is the youngest continent in the world with an estimated 40% of its population aged 15 years and younger. The continent is expected to add another 100 million children by 2050 – the only continent expected to do so. However, to nurture this demographic dividend and birth a progressive future, investing in Africa’s under-invested education and manufacturing sectors are critical and urgent. The continent’s demography and natural resources bequeaths on it a competitive advantage and opportunities for creating sustainable wealth.
The manufacturing sector has long been a cornerstone of economic development, and its potential for growth is particularly significant when women are empowered within it. Women are key to household economics, but they are often found in critical but underfunded sectors such as education and agribusiness where they identify pain points and drive access to essential services as producers, distributors, and consumers. Indeed, African women make up the bulk of informal traders on the continent, distributing essential goods withincountries and across borders. They are also found on the upstream of manufacturing where they produce and supply critical raw material to industries and in factories like SKLD’s and Ivili's where they support manufacturing of essential products as employees and decision-makers.
Companies like Psaltry International, CHIKA’s Food, Ivili Loboya, and ReelFruit – all in the agribusiness sector, are creating opportunities for women in rural communities and beyond. Just as SKLD is on the forefront of education and Wemy Industries on the cutting edge of healthcare, where they manufacture, distribute, and supply products that improve the lives of women; and Jetstream Africa, Lupiya, SweepSouth and Rentoza are providing the technology to serve businesses creating impact. And we at AIF are right by them as private capital investors providing much needed capital and other non-financial support that will empower and tap their potential.
As we at AIF commemorate International Women's Day (IWD), it is crucial to highlight the transformative potential of investing in women, particularly in the context of impact and gender lens investing in Africa. Our experience as a pioneering gender lens investment funds shows that by proactively investing in women, impact investors not only unlock economic potential for all but also foster social inclusion, drive sustainable development, and create a brighter future for generations to come. AIF’s commitment is to supporting women wherever they may be in the value chain, and unleash Africa’s full potential using a gender lens. We invite you to join us in this mission and invest in a bold and equitable future for humanity.
