Kenafric Group, a Kenyan consumer goods company, launched Kenafric Ventures on Thursday, a $10 million corporate venture fund that will invest in early-stage African consumer businesses.
The fund will put $100,000 to $2 million into companies that have shown product-market fit and are ready to grow. Beyond cash, founders will get access to the manufacturing, distribution, and market know-how Kenafric has built since 1987.
"Building a great product is only the beginning," said Mikul Shah, chief executive officer of Kenafric Group.
Shah said the company has spent nearly four decades learning how to move products from a factory in Nairobi onto shelves across East Africa, and that this knowledge can matter to a young consumer business as much as the money.
Corporate venture studio S2E Africa will manage the fund. FSD Africa, a Nairobi-based financial sector development organization, helped design it.
Target sectors
Kenafric Ventures will invest in food and beverage, beauty and personal care, and consumer-facing retail platforms. That includes direct-to-consumer brands, experiential consumer companies and related categories, with a preference for businesses with sustainable models.
The group designed the program on the view that capital is only one obstacle for consumer companies trying to expand across African markets. Founders also face different regulatory regimes, uneven infrastructure and complex distribution channels.
Companies that receive investment can tap into the Kenafric group's capabilities and networks.
Pulkit Srivastava, founder and chief executive officer of S2E Africa, said the right corporate partner gives consumer founders capabilities that money alone cannot buy. He said a relationship that starts with an investment can grow into distribution, manufacturing, expansion into new markets and possibly an acquisition.
Corporate capital
The fund follows a program that FSD Africa and S2E Africa ran earlier this year to find ways to steer corporate capital toward small and growing businesses.
"Corporate capital in Africa is abundant, but very little of it reaches startups," said Juliet Munro, director of early-stage finance at FSD Africa.
Munro said large companies usually engage with entrepreneurs through corporate social responsibility programs. She said she hopes more African corporations will follow Kenafric's lead.
African startups raised about the same total in the first half of 2026 as a year earlier, but across far fewer deals, according to Dealroom.
Founders can apply for investment through S2E Africa's website. Companies and investors that want to co-invest or set up their own corporate venture programs can contact S2E Africa the same way.
