Our brand
When creating our brand, we wanted to choose a name which was distinctive, associated with Africa and representative of our vision. Private equity investing in SMEs in Africa is a challenging task, which takes time, resilience and commitment. In order to achieve our mission, the Jacana team needs to be innovative and overcome significant challenges.
The Jacana, a bird indigenous to many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, demonstrates these qualities with its innate sense of balance, which enables it to walk across water using plants floating on or under the surface of the water. Water is a key feature of our brand, representing the transparency of our operations across the business.
Our values
The following set of values lie at the heart of the Jacana organisation and provide the foundation for all that we do:
IMPACT INSPIRED - Jacana is inspired by and founded on the desire of its people to make a significant and sustainable impact on Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic and social development. We are serious about achieving impact, which is why we are serious about measuring it. Managing, measuring and reporting on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance and development impact is an integral part of the Jacana investment process.
COMMERCIAL - We firmly believe the best way to achieve impact is through the application of sound commercial principles. By adhering to the highest international business standards, we can deliver attractive financial returns whilst positively impacting Africa’s social and economic outlook.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP - We are founded by a group of entrepreneurs whose passion, experience and expertise in entrepreneurship is the foundation of everything we do. We know entrepreneurs are the key drivers of job creation and economic development in Africa, which is why our business is devoted to helping them fulfil their potential. The entrepreneurs we invest in are our primary stakeholders. Adding value to their businesses and helping them grow, is the part of the job we most treasure.
PARTNERSHIP - Collaboration between international private equity experts and high quality local teams lies at the heart of our unique business model – and it doesn’t stop there. We take pride in the relationships we have with all our partners. From our investors to our investees, we work as one team, with one shared vision for success. We are firm but fair and our partners respect us for this.
PROFESSIONAL - We truly understand African SME investment so we appreciate that what we are trying to do is extremely challenging. We realise that we will only succeed if we operate to international professional standards, which is why we have developed a highly disciplined investment process from deal sourcing to exit. Our investors can trust absolutely in the integrity and consistency of our approach, no matter where we are investing.
COMMITTED - Growing sustainable and successful SMEs is our business. We are not just doing this for fun (although it is certainly our intention to have fun) or to build our track-records before moving on to bigger deals. Jacana is inspired by a long-term vision and we are proud to declare our permanent commitment to the SME sector, meaning the investment we and our investors make in building the skills and experience of our teams will never be lost to the SME part of the market. We mean and do what we say and our integrity is evident throughout our business. Trust in our integrity is the cornerstone of our relationships with entrepreneurs and investors.