- OVO serves as an accelerator and investment facilitator for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an entrepreneurial focus in Africa. It provides crucial support encompassing comprehensive coaching programs to assist these ventures in their growth and development. Recognizing that these businesses often face financial challenges that surpass what microfinancing services typically offer, OVO aims to bridge this gap by providing tailored programs that may lead to investment.
- To support these ventures comprehensively, OVO adopts a dual approach that integrates growth and investment-readiness coaching simultaneously. The growth coaching focuses on helping businesses expand operations, increase market presence, enhance sustainability, and improve overall performance, laying the foundation for long-term success.
- At the same time, investment-readiness coaching prepares businesses to attract potential investors by ensuring they have the essential elements in place, such as a robust business plan, sound financial projections, and operational readiness. This parallel approach ensures businesses develop holistically, both in terms of growth and readiness for investment.
- Following this coaching process, OVO's Investment Committee rigorously assesses businesses and grants approval by awarding the “OVO Certificate: Investing for Change”, signifying their readiness for investment. This certification enables ventures to be connected with OVO's network of potential business angels. Importantly, the final decision regarding investment rests with the business angels, who retain the authority to decide whether to pursue the investment opportunity.
- OVO provides personalized coaching combined with a system designed to foster business growth. This system emphasizes practical knowledge exchange and intercultural communication, helping entrepreneurs access valuable expertise, skills, and best practices from experienced professionals. By facilitating this transfer of knowledge, OVO aims to drive sustainable growth, innovation, and long-term success for businesses.
- Through an international network of volunteers, companies, investors, NGOs, and institutions, OVO connects entrepreneurs with critical resources and partners. This ecosystem not only accelerates growth but also helps entrepreneurs overcome challenges by offering targeted support and building trust quickly.
Key characteristics of the OVO approach:
- Primary Objective: OVO aims to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa that fall within the "missing middle" category. These entrepreneurs face significant barriers in accessing capital, expertise, and technology, which hampers their valuable initiatives. However, growth-oriented entrepreneurs hold the potential to drive innovation, stimulate industry start-ups, reduce unemployment, and foster social prosperity within a country.
- Target Market: OVO focuses its efforts on SMEs in Africa that possess a strong social and/or ecological dimension and aspire to expand their businesses. The maximum funding requirement is capted at EUR 250.000.
- Geographic Scope: OVO operates in Benin, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda.
- Sector Focus: OVO is open to supporting ventures across various sectors, as it remains sector agnostic. However, the proposed business ideas need to incorporate the utilization of sustainable technology, such as resource conservation, recycling, and pollution reduction. Or they need to contribute to the transition towards a more sustainable society or economy, such as providing access to affordable healthcare or education through the application of technology.
- Portfolio Management: OVO employs its pipeline to select the companies that will receive facilitated loans. Additionally, OVO carries out comprehensive coaching and due diligence processes and closely monitors the advancement of the loans.
- Financial Returns: Loans facilitated by OVO offer investors an annual gross return of 7% on their invested euro amount. Repayment terms are determined based on the financial projections of the recipient company.
- Loan Amounts: The facilitated loans typically range between EUR 5.000 and EUR 250.000.
- Funding mechanisms: Conventional loan options.
- Governance involvement: OVO ensures regular six-monthly financial review sessions with the boards of investee companies to monitor and support their financial performance and growth trajectory.
- Investment duration: Maximum investment commitment of 5 years.