NAIROBI, May 28 – A new investment vehicle focused on African manufacturing and industrial development has been launched with plans to mobilize up to $100 million over the next five years to support job creation across the continent.
The Africa Jobs Fund was founded by Daniel Yu, the former chief executive of Kenyan e-commerce logistics startup Wasoko.
According to Yu, the fund intends to finance new manufacturing businesses and industrial ventures across Africa, particularly in sectors capable of generating large-scale employment and higher economic productivity.
The fund plans to raise capital primarily from philanthropic sources, an approach Yu said would allow it to pursue longer-term and higher-risk investments without the short-term return pressures often associated with traditional venture capital and private equity structures.
Renaissance Philanthropy is supporting the initiative alongside a group of advisers that includes former USAID Administrator Samantha Power and Nigerian technology entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji.
The launch comes amid growing conversations around Africa’s need to accelerate industrialization and create more productive employment opportunities for its rapidly expanding workforce.
Much of Africa’s labor force remains concentrated in agriculture, where jobs are frequently informal, low-income and vulnerable to external shocks.
Recent research from the International Labour Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization has highlighted agri-processing and manufacturing value chains as major opportunities for generating higher-value employment while strengthening domestic industrial capacity.
Supporters of the new fund argue that investing in sectors such as food processing, manufacturing and industrial supply chains could help African economies move beyond raw commodity dependence and build stronger local production systems.
The initiative also reflects increasing interest among impact-focused investors seeking to combine financial sustainability with broader social and economic development outcomes across emerging markets.
