Verod Capital: Growing impactful businesses in West Africa

Verod Capital is a private equity firm focused on providing growth equity to impactful businesses in Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. They prioritise consumer-driven sectors, fostering sustainable growth and driving positive change through gender equality, decent work, and climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience. 

At Verod, gender considerations have always been fundamental to their business approach, prioritising gender equality and women's empowerment in both the workplace and investments. In 2022, with encouragement and technical assistance funding support from a DFI LP, they embarked on an 18-month journey with gender experts Sagana Consulting, to formally integrate gender considerations into operations and investment processes, from screening, to due diligence, and reporting. 

2X Certification was a perfectly timed opportunity to validate Verod’s formal transformation into a gender-smart investor, demonstrating the firm’s commitment to gender leadership and creating a more inclusive and equitable environment. The evaluation process was comprehensive and rigorous, which we found valuable and insightful, but also time-consuming and demanding, and not without its challenges. 

Having well institutionalised processes and policies, and a dedicated staff member to lead the process made the process manageable. The 2X Certification team was also available to provide support in navigating the nuance of a fund with a diverse profile. This was a significant and worthwhile learning experience for the Verod team. They are now equipped with a structured and comprehensive framework that will enhance their intentionality in gender lens investing. Building on these insights, Verod will continue advancing its gender commitments by making intentional efforts to meet set targets at both the firm and portfolio-company levels, especially for Fund IV.