Alitheia Capital and Goodwell Investments on Thursday announced the first exit of their joint uMunthu Fund: Baobab Nigeria, a financial institution creating meaningful impact in sub-Saharan Africa by providing inclusive banking services to individuals and MSMEs in underserved areas.
The company in a report made available to our correspondent dated March 20, 2025, said that more than 12 years after investing in Baobab Nigeria, first via their GWAMDC fund and later uMunthu, Alitheia and Goodwell have now exited the investment.
The exit, the company said, is not only a testament to the impressive growth and financial stability, also a manifestation that Baobab Nigeria has achieved remarkably with the support of these two investors, but also proves the ability of patient capital to drive both financial and impactful returns.
The impact of this now-completed partnership is far-reaching: from operating only in Kaduna state to 16 states in Nigeria, Baobab Nigeria has grown from serving 19,000 customers through a regional network of five branches to serving 230,000 customers through a national net- work of 38 branches.
Significantly, this was achieved by continuing to serve Baobab’s original, inclusive customer base, with average loan and deposit sizes remaining consistently small throughout the period of impressive growth.
The investment which was out- standing in pioneering partnership, redefined “Local investor with a local presence”
The statement pointed out that a joint vision for inclusive financial services was the core motivation for Alitheia and Goodwell’s investment in Baobab (then trading under the name MicroCred) in 2012. This led to a further investment through the uMunthu Fund in 2015.
uMunthu represented the first private capital investors working in northern Nigeria (previously the realm of DFIs). Additionally, Alitheia and Goodwell were the first local, on-the-ground investors in Baobab – prior to this investment there were no Nigerian investors represented on the company’s board.
Since that first investment, Alitheia and Goodwell have poured hands-on, proactive expertise into Baobab. uMunthu supported the bank’s professionalisation, enabling improved governance at board and management level, driving its growth from a unit microfinance institution (MFI) to a top national MFI.
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