The Africa Middle Market Fund serves private investors who desire to fund, support and participate in the upside of medium sized African businesses ready for growth capital of $500,000 to $2 million. 

We are an "impact investment" fund that pursues strong financial performance while emphasizing and measuring the accompanying social benefits. As a for-profit fund, we insist that our investees employ world-class standards of financial accounting and corruption-free business practices.  We expect our investees to be responsible members of their surrounding communities and to treat employees and suppliers with respect and fairness. We believe when the head and the heart work together for wealth-creation and development, the restoration of dignity is an important outcome.  By assisting African business owners and leaders in achieving profitable growth, investors and investees alike will benefit both from the financial gains and the sense of significance derived from doing things at the best global standards. 

Advantages of AMMF

• An experienced team of professional Africans and "Africanists" with a strong track record of working alongside, and putting money to work in many high-performing medium sized business on the continent.
• A robust pipeline of investment targets ready for growth capital and rapid expansion
• The use of proven, self-liquidating instruments which, among other benefits, alleviate a key problem experienced by conventional PE/VC funds in Africa: exiting.  
• Context-appropriate risk-mitigation strategies proven to work over time in challenging environments.
• Established networks on the continent, enabling well-sourced dealflow and well-rounded technical assistance and accountability for investees
• The Fund will initially target Tanzania and Uganda, two of the most attractive investment destinations in East Africa.  This is a private placement fund, not open to the public.

For more information, email info@africammfund.com.

Rodney MacAlister is Managing Director and Jon Halverson is Co-Founder and Principal of AMMF Capital Management LLC, managers of the Africa Middle Market Fund.

Rodney J. MacAlister, Managing Director
Rodney MacAlister has worked in and around Africa for over 20 years. He is the former President and CEO of the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), and spent 25 years in commercial negotiations and management with the multinational energy company, ConocoPhillips, much of it in Africa.

• As President and General Manager of Conoco Congo Ltd., he ran all company operations in the Republic of the Congo. This included the management of a national staff, purchases of substantial goods and services on the local economy, and the conduct of outstanding host government relations.
• As Business Development Manager for Conoco Inc. he negotiated several Production Sharing Contracts and Joint Operating Agreements that formed a substantial part of the company’s asset portfolio in Africa.
• During his years with Conoco in Africa, he was also involved in some 40 “social investment” projects in the Congo and Angola. These included a medical clinic that served over 700 people, and the construction of Africa’s largest ape sanctuary for Dr. Jane Goodall.
• As CEO of the African Development Foundation*, he oversaw an SME portfolio of some 240 investments in 16 countries. In his two years at the helm, EBITDA per investment increased 323%, and all other indicators were up substantially.
• Between Conoco and ADF, MacAlister established and ran Business & Conflict Ltd., a London-based consultancy specializing in doing business in weak states and conflict zones, among whose accomplishments was the organization of a mid-size indigenous energy company in Iraq in 2004.

Jon Halverson, Co-Founder and Principal
Jon Halverson is a known professional on the continent and in the food and agricultural businesses.

• He lived the last three years in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, serving as US African Development Foundation’s East Africa Regional Investment Advisor and Country Director, spent most of 2006 in Ghana and Liberia, where he led the development of a new Country Program in post-conflict investing. He has reviewed hundreds of SME business plans and investment proposals and worked directly with more than 60 SMEs and agricultural cooperatives in sub-Saharan Africa.
• While in Tanzania he oversaw 41 medium-sized company and agriculture investments spread across a variety of sectors and regions in Tanzania, and another 8 investments in Malawi. Under his management, the portfolio more than doubled, and Tanzania became the highest performing country for USADF over the last three years in terms of revenue growth, profitability and social benefit. In 2008, USADF’s Tanzania investments generated $38 million in Sales and $9 million of Net Income. 
• His investments grew 256% from baseline sales figures over his tenure, a 37.5% CAGR on Sales. EBITDA margin on sales for these investments was 39%, which reveals the high potential of medium-sized enterprise investing in East Africa.
• Halverson has developed and managed a high performing team of Tanzanian business analysts, worked directly with multiple investees across a wide variety of sectors, and gained firsthand insights into assessing and helping businesses and agriculture cooperatives.
• Prior to ADF, he served as a Director of Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategy and Business Development at Cargill Incorporated where he spent most of his 15-year career focused on international business development and investment, with a particular focus on emerging markets in the developing world. He led numerous large- and small-scale acquisitions, acquisition assessments and new entry investments.

Management Team
AMMF Capital Management LLC has a strong team of African professionals, whose bios will be presented publicly following the first close of the Africa Middle Market Fund.
*Further background on USADF: The African Development Foundation is an independent US Government agency created in 1980 to provide expansion finance to unbanked small and mid-size entities in Africa.  Both the US Congress and African governments fund USADF. It makes grants and zero-interest loans between $50,000 and $250,000 over a maximum 5-year term, and provides substantial technical assistance. USADF is like a Private Equity fund in that it expects its investees to be profitable and sustainable, and differs from a PE fund only in that when it exits, the resulting returned capital is left in-country and reinvested. USADF’s main focus is to enable profitable enterprises to graduate to the commercial financial sector. It has about $50 million in outstanding loans and grants.

Tanzania and Uganda were selected as the initial Target Countries as they were the top two performing portfolios at USADF. In 2008, they produced 70% of the gross revenues generated by USADF’s portfolio companies from investments made under MacAlister.