<h1 style="text-align:center;">2019 in Review and a Sneak Peek at 2020!</h1>As we start off the new year and decade, it’s one of our traditions at RENEW to look back at the last 12 months and ahead to the next. February 2020 will mark eight years RENEW and the IAN have been in Ethiopia. Before we arrived, there was one PE firm, now there are over a dozen. RENEW’s <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/what-we-do/investing">Impact Angel Network</a> is the most active SME investment group in Ethiopia, and we have already achieved two exits! Before the IAN, most of the private sector had no option for financing. Unless you had a micro-enterprise or a huge company, there was nowhere to get $500K. Now, friends advise entrepreneurial friends to speak with RENEW's angel network or pitch on <a href="http://www.tonetormultimedia.com/">Chigign 'Tobiya</a>, the investment TV show RENEW helped launch. The work is not just happening in Ethiopia and Uganda, but it's happening around the world with the Impact Angel Network. Here are some of the highlights for RENEW in 2019.January - We started the year with our annual partners planning session in Colorado. We also held an Econ-Tourism Trip that took place in Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda!February - We held our third round of the <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/companies">CFO100</a> and <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/companies">The Exec’s Program</a>. We also funded a second investment in Roadrunner Technology Solutions LLC (Roadrunner), which partners with Universal Courier Services PLC (<a href="https://deliveraddis.com/">Deliver Addis</a>) to expand the burgeoning logistics and e-commerce industries in Ethiopia.March - We celebrated International Women’s Day with an Ode to Africa’s Businesswomen and started making plans for an investment vehicle focused on women.April - RENEW and the Impact Angel Network committed capital to a fund dedicated to investing in women-owned and led companies in Ethiopia and Uganda. RENEW and the IAN designed the fund to address a pressing need to close the financing gap for women-owned companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. We also visited our partners, <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/index.aspx?lang=eng">Global Affairs Canada</a>, in Ottawa, Canada.May - This was a big month at RENEW! We successfully exited two investments to a regional private equity fund and a family office. RENEW and the IAN provided two rounds of angel financing to support the launch of an Ethiopian production company that exports to international markets. We also held our fourth International Gathering weekend in Washington D.C., and we released our <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/The%20Fourth%20Annual%20Impact%20Report">Fourth Annual Impact Report</a>.June - We attended the 5th Annual Private Equity in East Africa Conference (hosted by EAVCA) and participated on the "Investing in Women is a Good Idea" panel discussion.July - We made our first investment in Uganda from the Women-Owned Business Investment Fund. The fund was set up to invest in female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and Uganda, and the first company to receive an investment was Kijani Baby (<a href="https://www.kijanionline.com/">Kijani</a>).August - We closed our second investment from the Women-Owned Business Investment Fund. This investment was made into a company that supports tourism in Ethiopia, which partners with Travel Ethiopia PLC (Travel Ethiopia).September - We visited with our IAN Chapter in Virginia and spent some quality time with some IAN members and investors. The partners also visited London and the Netherlands.October - RENEW had the pleasure of hosting a panel discussion in partnership with the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (<a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/">ANDE</a>), <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/">TrustLaw</a> (Thomson Reuters Foundation) and <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/index.aspx?lang=eng">Global Affairs Canada</a> on the changes that are coming to the legal and regulatory framework for investing in Ethiopia. We also launched our fourth cohort of The Exec’s Program and CFO100, and we had several members of the Impact Angel Network visit us in Ethiopia.November - We attended the <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/11/global-gender-summit-2019-african-leaders-take-responsibility-urgently-close-gender-gap/">Global Gender Summit</a> in Kigali along with 20+ female entrepreneur delegates from Ethiopia who had won the <a href="https://invest2impact.africa/">Invest2Impact</a> Challenge. What an inspirational time and an encouragement to double-down on our strategy to build gender-balanced, gender smart management teams!December - We announced an important strategic shift in our investment strategy to the Impact Angel Network. Look for more background on this in 2020, but here are the broad strokes of it. Going forward, we intend to bring capital, training and skilled management into companies the IAN and RENEW take controlling positions in. With this strategy, we will be able to provide opportunities for existing team members to learn from veteran managers that have successfully led similar companies. Owners of portfolio companies will be freed to focus on their core competencies. A critical piece of this strategy is that RENEW will manage the back-office services for portfolio companies in the areas of finance, accounting, marketing, HR, sales, IT and potentially others to achieve economies of scale. We will also continue to provide training to company managers and will work with them to implement the lessons they learned within the companies we invest in.Throughout the year, we enjoyed connecting with members of the Impact Angel Network in Ethiopia, Uganda and around the world. As we start this new year and decade, we are grateful to the <a href="../../new-strategy/partners.html">Government of Canada</a> who makes our work in Ethiopia possible, members of the Impact Angel Network who believe in the potential of businesses to be the engines of prosperity, our team who works tirelessly around the world and the inspirational entrepreneurs leading our <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/portfolio">companies</a>.The year and decade ahead look bright. This year will be about implementing the strategy shift we announced in December and providing high-quality professional services as we build businesses into market leaders, adding value to their employees and the markets in which they operate in. Here's to a great 2020.The Renew Team, Matthew Davis, Tom Scriven, Laura Davis, Justin Reesor, Erin O’Connor, Emily Ziethen, Prasoon Raghuwanshi, Lulit Negash, Yoseph Getachew, Tsegamlak Solomon, Kirsten Newman, Teddy Fantahun, Dagmawit Shiferaw, Filseta Asrat, Mary Adoi, Tamiru Belayneh

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2019 in Review and a Sneak Peek at 2020!

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Management: The Real Missing Middle Opportunity</h1>As an avid angel investor in Africa and a manager of one of the most active SME investment firms in Ethiopia, seeing the development community take up the ‘entrepreneurship cause’ these last few years is refreshing. It has become popular for big foundations to fund impressive African entrepreneurship pitch days, accelerators and incubators from Lagos, Nigeria to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Because of this, Ethiopia is now home to more than a dozen private equity offices; up from only two firms eight years ago when we opened RENEW’s office here.Governments like the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia are working to support the startup ecosystem and are developing local angel networks, rather than focusing solely on attracting large foreign direct investments. By the looks of it, the world is slowly moving in the right direction to fill the “missing middle” in Sub-Saharan Africa by growing a prosperous and vibrant private sector with balanced economies.While these developments are moving in the right direction, I think we are missing a small but critical piece of the puzzle. A piece that I believe could unlock even better, stronger and more sustainable growth.If the first step is building up cadres of promising entrepreneurs, our next job needs to be turning these big ideas into scaling companies. This requires strong management. While not as sexy as hearing a pitch, closing a deal or investing capital, businesses need solid executives and middle management to scale - ideas are good, but execution is everything. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of quality middle management in Africa. I argue the lack of management might be as critical (if not more) as the lack of capital that so many economists talk about.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:100%;"><img src="/uploads/execsfeb_b5a597cae4.jpg"></figure>After eight years of backing companies in Ethiopia and meeting with hundreds more, we are not consistently seeing entrepreneurs effectively execute on their ideas and scale their companies. Which leads RENEW to a hypothesis: is there a huge opportunity for the development community to widen their lens and partner with investors to build up a class of local executives and managers that can scale companies into market leaders? We certainly believe so.At RENEW, we have been searching for patterns in SME success, looking across our portfolio and beyond to see why some companies fail and others succeed. We have concluded that those that fail have weak management. In markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, where competition is low, it’s not product-market fit or timing, it’s management. This is why we are working on an SME investment playbook that amasses years of best practices and lessons learned for building up the middle management in SMEs.Part of the playbook is training and hands-on experience, working alongside experienced executives that can transfer knowledge to budding CFOs and COOs. To start, we built a frills-free executive training program that teaches managers the basics of running effective management meetings, working their calendars, scanning their cash flow statements, and hiring and firing. Next, our program goes beyond the classroom and into the company - teaching real-world tactics alongside successful executives that we place into companies to mentor and build up local teams around them.We’d like to give a huge hat-tip to <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/index.aspx?lang=eng">Global Affairs Canada</a> for stepping into the private sector development space and taking the narrative beyond capital and into the critical world of executive and management building by funding <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Key%20Resources%20for%20Executives">The Exec’s Program</a> and <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Building%20a%20New%20Class%20of%20Finance%20Executives%20for%20Ethiopia">CFO100</a>.We regularly hear that the development community wants solutions that create impact at scale. As an investor, I want companies that create profit at scale and, in doing so, create jobs, pay taxes and have a huge multiplier effect. Let’s not just throw capital at the problem. I recommend that the development community take a lesson from Canada - go beyond the glitz of the demo days and start training executives to lead these companies.To dig deeper into this issue of the middle management gap, come see us at Sankalp where we’ll be hosting a panel in conjunction with <a href="https://www.andeglobal.org/">ANDE</a> and Open Capital Advisors. Visit ANDE to find out more and <a href="https://www.andeglobal.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1331628&amp;group=">register for the event</a>.

Scaling companies in Africa requires management plus capital.

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Management: The Real Missing Middle Opportunity

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Following Along with Travel Ethiopia</h1>You may have noticed that we at RENEW often share proudly when we close an investment, but we don't always do a good job of sharing stories that allow you to follow along with the incredible entrepreneurs we partner with. Today, we’d like to give you a closer look into Travel Ethiopia.Samrawit Moges graduated from <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Key%20Resources%20for%20Executives">The Exec's Program</a> and, in late 2019, received an investment from the Impact Angel Network. The investment helped her company, <a href="https://www.travelethiopia.com/">Travel Ethiopia</a>, enhance its corporate governance and will allow her company to bring on a professional to improve its back and front office systems in order to become a top tour company in Ethiopia. Samrawit graduated from Addis Ababa University in 1983 where she studied journalism. After graduating, she entered a compulsory lottery to draw the institution she would be working for. She ended up drawing the national tour operator.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:100%;"><img src="/uploads/samrawit_0_91ff51b895.jpg"><figcaption>Image Source: Love Everything Travel: <a href="https://loveeverythingtravel.com/interview-with-samrawit-moges-travel-entrepreneur-in-ethiopia/">Interview with Samrawit Moges | Travel Entrepreneur in Ethiopia</a></figcaption></figure>In 1994, she and her husband founded Travel Ethiopia using personal savings as start-up funding. At the time, they hired five people, and now she employs 41, of which 40% are women. In 2019, Samrawit lost her husband, and is now continuing forward with the company they founded. Determined to leave a legacy, Samrawit is passionate about exposing predatorial tour companies that cater to prostitution in Ethiopia. She is proud to be the first company to hire and train female tour guides.Read more about the<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rycvnlOOmX9CSqhsJg6WAYeLWzhuCIHU/view?usp=sharing"> investment</a> from the IAN, and check back soon for more photos of Samrawit along with more information about how our Accelerating Business Growth program with <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en.html">Global Affairs Canada</a> and The Exec's Program she participated in are impacting her business.Learn more about Samrawit in the following interviews:<ul><li>Macropolis: <a href="https://marcopolis.net/exclusive-interview-with-travel-ethiopia-a-woman-led-tour-operator-from-ethiopia.htm">Exclusive Interview with Travel Ethiopia, a Woman-Led Tour Operator from Ethiopia</a></li><li>Love Everything Travel: <a href="https://loveeverythingtravel.com/interview-with-samrawit-moges-travel-entrepreneur-in-ethiopia/">Interview with Samrawit Moges | Travel Entrepreneur in Ethiopia</a></li></ul>

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Following Along with Travel Ethiopia

<h1 style="text-align:center;">RENEW’s Gender Equality Report Card</h1>As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, I thought it would be a good time to take a step back and look at RENEW’s scorecard as it relates to gender equality. While we aren’t perfect, gender equality and gender-smart policies are something we genuinely aim for. Here’s how that currently stacks up.<ul><li>55% of the SMEs currently in the IAN's <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/portfolio">portfolio</a> have female shareholders.</li><li>60% of the jobs provided across our portfolio are held by women.</li><li>43% of participants in <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Key%20Resources%20for%20Executives">The Exec’s Program</a> are women.</li><li>36% of the professionals in the <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Building%20a%20New%20Class%20of%20Finance%20Executives%20for%20Ethiopia">CFO100</a> are women.</li><li>43 or 28% of the <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/apply">Impact Angel Network</a> members are women. We want to have more women join the IAN.</li><li>And finally, 47% of RENEW’s <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/about/teams">professional team</a> are women.</li></ul>To read real-life perspectives from some of these key stakeholder groups referenced above, check out the following blogs:<ul><li><a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Desta%20is%20Like%20Family">Desta is Like Family</a> (Tadelech Buto, a manager in the textile sector)</li><li><a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/An%20Angel%20Investor%E2%80%99s%20Perspective">An Angel Investor’s Perspective</a> (Beth Marquette, an Impact Angel Network member)</li><li><a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Made%20in%20Ethiopia">Made in Ethiopia</a> (Lulit Negash, a former RENEW team member)</li></ul><figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/renew_team_e3591578e1.png"><figcaption>Photo by Ian Christmann: <a href="http://ianchristmann.com/">www.ianchristmann.com</a></figcaption></figure>&nbsp;

We aren’t perfect, but we are proud of our results!

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RENEW’s Gender Equality Report Card

<h1 style="text-align:center;">COVID-19, Bright Spots in RENEW’s Portfolio</h1>We hope you and your loved ones are healthy and safe in these turbulent times. Here in Ethiopia, as of noon on April 7, 2020, there have been 42 cases of COVID-19 and 2 deaths. Nearby, Uganda is reporting 52 cases with 0 deaths. Some have questioned these numbers, but my opinion is that the governments of Ethiopia and Uganda are doing remarkably well in responding to the pandemic with limited resources.Matthew, Brooklyn, our 18-month-old daughter, and I remain in Ethiopia, where we plan to stay for the foreseeable future to continue our work supporting our portfolio and helping East Africa’s private sector weather this storm and recover fast. Here in Addis, our office remains open until the government tells us to shut down or until our team votes to close. We are implementing strict COVID-19 protocols and have moved all in-person meetings to phone and internet meetings. We have also been active with sharing best practices with our pipeline and portfolio companies and have also gone steps beyond that to equip our neighbors with tools and equipment to help curb the spread of COVID-19. In North America, Uganda and abroad, our team is working virtually as most normally do, so the impact on our day to day work culture has been minimal.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/tebita_69e17dd0d2.png"></figure>We have been able to continue supporting our portfolio companies and encouraging our team and our companies to use this crisis as an opportunity to get creative. We believe local companies in Africa may be hit harder by local and global instability than companies in developed countries. Supply chains and financing mechanisms are disrupted, and in some cases, entire markets have dried up. We are determined to play our part in not letting the economy lose a decade of progress.We are working on response efforts on many fronts, including running virtual training sessions with companies, acting as extra hands for management, lining up resources to address operational disruptions, leading major marketing initiatives, and helping restructure their financing to free up cash so they can weather (even thrive) during these uncertain times. This week we are running a session on contingency planning (both for COVID and the upcoming election). Let us know if you are interested in receiving a syllabus of the training, entitled “Contingency Planning: What is Your Plan B?” by emailing <a href="mailto:renew@renestrategies.com">renew@renestrategies.com</a>.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/da_0_4a0c7e8bd9.png"></figure>Here are some bright spots that are happening with our portfolio companies that go beyond their core business to help their customers during this unprecedented time:<ul><li>EAES | Tebita - Our team has launched a program that will allow U.S. Ethiopian Diaspora to pay for 24-hour peace of mind emergency response services for their loved ones via Tebita Ambulance and East Africa Emergency Services. The service includes on-demand ambulance services, home health check-ins (contactless unless otherwise dictated) and critical food delivery services for those who need to stay home because of old age or compromised immune systems. Visit <a href="https://www.eastafricaems.com/peace-of-mind-services">https://www.eastafricaems.com/peace-of-mind-services</a><a href="https://www.tebitambulance.com/"> </a>to learn more or subscribe.</li><li>RoadRunner | Deliver Addis - The company is working hard to respond to the surge in demand, and the RENEW team is assisting with marketing, relationships, etc. to increase their capacity. You can even get a reusable cloth mask as part of the company's grocery marketplace! We hope this helps consumers get access to critical food and also minimizes the risks of the virus spreading. If you are in Addis, visit <a href="https://deliveraddis.com/">https://deliveraddis.com/</a> to order food, groceries, alcohol or flowers for delivery!</li><li>dVentus - We are working with the engineers from dVentus to explore developing a ventilator prototype for Ethiopia. They have a design with locally available products and now we need to prototype and test it. We hope we don’t need it.</li><li>Kijani Baby - The need for reusable diapers is greater than ever. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-coronavirus-changes-shopping-nappy-lady-races-to-meet-cloth-diaper-demand-11585906201?mod=hp_lead_pos12">Read more in WSJ</a>. We are working to help the Kijani team contact new buyers, shore up their supply chain and figure out how to legally operate under Uganda’s strict COVID-19 stay at home orders.</li></ul>Looking to the future, the need for capital to help local SMEs restart operations after a global/local shutdown and rehire employees will be critical for the country's stability/future. Our company, <a href="https://www.renewcapital.com/resources/blogs/Following%20Along%20with%20Travel%20Ethiopia">Travel Ethiopia</a>, is among those that are hard hit, and we are working with the company’s founder, Samrawit Moges, to shore up resources, adapt and weather the storm. Read <a href="https://cepheuscapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Macroeconomic-Impacts-of-the-Corona-Virus-A-Preliminary-Assessment-for-Ethiopia-r1.pdf">Cepheus’ initial analysis of sectors that will be impacted</a>. As we always do, we are exploring various innovative sources of capital to help meet the needs. If you have any questions or ideas, please let us know. Also, if you would like to arrange a "virtual coffee", we'd love to catch up.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/dventus_1_81897a3d1a.png"></figure>&nbsp;

Supporting business in Africa is more important than ever

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COVID-19, Bright Spots in RENEW’s Portfolio

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Amidst the Crisis, Find Some Help For Your Company</h1>Are you an entrepreneur, executive of a company or business owner struggling to figure out how to navigate these uncertain times? Maybe angel Investors can help. The Exchange, RENEW's angel and early-stage SME investment platform supported by Global Affairs Canada, is a pioneer of angel investing in East Africa. The Exchange manages investments from RENEW's Impact Angel Network, which is the largest North American-based angel network dedicated to investing in Africa and one of the most active SME investors in Ethiopia. The Exchange also helped launch the popular T.V. program, Chigign 'Tobiya, which is building local angel networks and inspiring entrepreneurship across Ethiopia. Amidst this crisis, The Exchange will be running a series of virtual trainings to help business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs learn how to find, attract and utilize capital to weather this economic crisis.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/grow_build_leavebrown_ae8c0ab94a.png"></figure>We are constantly working to support our pipeline and portfolio companies to be creative and persevere during these challenging times. We are helping them repurpose assets, pivot operations, and establish new partnerships with other companies in our portfolio and our network. We financed a team of dVentus engineers to create a ventilator prototype; helped Travel Ethiopia repurpose its vehicles to enable Deliver Addis to scale up its food delivery fleet; launched a new home healthcare service with EAES and Tebita for elderly patients reluctant to go to the hospital, and we are exploring whether Sadura can make hand sanitizer.We are also creating platforms for the wider business community to provide resources, tools, and encouragement for businesses to press forward. RENEW has launched a channel on Telegram to help you get your head in the game. Join <a href="https://t.me/OrangeBusinessNetwork">@OrangeBusinessNetwork</a> on Telegram today and let’s get to work.We have taken The Exchange, the training and acceleration wing of our operation, virtual and redesigned our training to provide companies with the right set of tools to survive during this time.Coming up, we have the following free virtual trainings scheduled, click on the links to register:<ol><li>Webinar: How Should You Be Responding as a Business Owner in the Age of COVID? Date: Please check back for a future date. Time: TBD</li></ol>Register: Interested in participating in an upcoming workshop? Please email <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">RENEW</a> and we'll let you know when the next date is announced.<ol><li>Webinar: Where is the Money For My Company and How Do I Get It? Date: June 9, 2020 Time: 2 PM EAT Register: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcqduihpjwtGtYJfZTlD9s89T3gvTaQD7cP">LINK</a></li><li>Webinar: What is the ET Gov. Economic Response to COVID? Date: June 25, 2020 Time: 2 PM EAT Register: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUucOqhrDkrHtDW93IX_gqzQpCCtpwAAmFd">LINK</a></li><li>Webinar: After the Lockdown: Uganda's Legal and Economic Response to COVID-19 and What You Need to Know Date: July 2, 2020 Time: 2 PM EAT Register: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtd-CrrTkoG9x-DZkiatbqWJcOl95f6diV">LINK</a></li><li>Webinar: Private Equity and How to Find Cash for Your Business Date: July 14, 2020 Time: 2 PM EAT Register: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvcu6oqDsvGtdmSodbDcSWXT_ntZUs54cc">LINK</a></li></ol>Women in Finance Series: The Women in Finance Series has gone virtual! Women in Finance is a quarterly event hosted by RENEW. The next event will be June 18, 2020 @ 4 PM <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">Contact us</a> if you are interested in attending.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/execs_2_c9a1822a5d.png"></figure> If you are looking for a partner or just someone to help you navigate the waters ahead, please contact us at <a href="mailto:renew@renewcapital.com">renew@renewcapital.com</a>.

Are you an entrepreneur or manager? Find resources to thrive during these times

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Amidst the Crisis, Find Some Help For Your Company

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Press Release: RENEW's IAN Make Follow-on Investment in Ethiopia’s #1 Online Food Delivery Company</h1><a href="https://renewcapital.com/sites/default/files/05.21.2020_-_press_release_-_roadrunner_-_final.pdf">Download the Full Press Release</a>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;RENEW and the Impact Angel Network Make Follow-on Investment in Ethiopia’s #1 Online Food Delivery Company in Response to Spike in Demand Due to COVID-19&nbsp;Denver, CO and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 21, 2020 --Members of RENEW's <a href="../../impact-angel-network/impact-angel-network.html">Impact Angel Network</a> (IAN) have funded a third investment in Roadrunner Technology Solutions LLC (Roadrunner), a partner of <a href="https://deliveraddis.com/">Deliver Addis</a> in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Deliver Addis (the d/b/a name of Universal Courier Services PLC) is the pioneer e-commerce company in Ethiopia, the world’s 12th largest country. Since 2015, Deliver Addis has focused on online food delivery, but in April 2020, in response to increased demand caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the company expanded services and now includes an online Marketplace that enables Ethiopian consumers to shop for groceries and other essential goods online. Since the IAN’s initial investment, the company’s daily deliveries have grown 630%.Roadrunner and Deliver Addis’s core competitive advantage is the technology platform they use, designed by founder Feleg Tsegaye. The platform enables Deliver Addis to handle large amounts of orders and coordinate drivers to shorten delivery times. The IAN’s investments financed the enhancement of this platform and an expansion of Deliver Addis’s fleet. Deliver Addis now provides food from over 100 restaurants, groceries, flowers, and other consumer products. The third investment in Roadrunner and Deliver Addis will increase the companies’ capacity, enable them to reduce prices and increase efficiency to expand market share and offer new products and services to the market.“As both a frequent user of Deliver Addis and owner of Roadrunner, I couldn’t be more excited about this investment,” said Matthew Davis, RENEW’s CEO. “Not only is the need for such services of national importance to control the spread of COVID-19, but it is also keeping hundreds of people employed through Deliver Addis and the small businesses they support. Feleg is a visionary and a skilled technician. We’re excited to back him and drive Deliver Addis into new markets.”“While it hasn’t been easy to launch and grow an e-commerce platform in Ethiopia, the country is changing every day,” said Feleg Tsegaye. “We’re seeing consumers adopt technology not only as a luxury, but, in these challenging times, it’s becoming a necessity. We’re pleased to play our role in helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to help so many restaurants, local vendors and supermarkets keep their lights on by providing them with an online market. We appreciate all of the support we have received from the community and our stakeholders, and we look forward to continuing to serve them.”The investments made by the Impact Angel Network have been made possible because of RENEW’s partnership with <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/index.aspx?lang=eng">Global Affairs Canada</a> (GAC). RENEW’s blended finance partnership with GAC aims to support high potential, responsible SMEs in Ethiopia, providing them with the tools, resources and training they need to attract and efficiently use finance to grow, thereby enabling them to play a stronger role in the Ethiopian economy.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/rr_press_release_0_1a9d90040c.png"></figure>About the Impact Angel Network and RENEWThe Impact Angel Network is one of the most active private equity investors in Ethiopia. Its members seek to achieve both significant positive social impact and financial returns through investments in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, a proven engine of economic growth and job creation which often lacks capital due to their size. RENEW and IAN members believe that targeting employment through SMEs is, dollar-for-dollar, the most effective and sustainable way to reduce poverty.RENEW, with its largest office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, manages the IAN’s investment operations and provides investment advisory and consulting services in support of its investments. RENEW’s work in Ethiopia was piloted with USAID and is currently undertaken with financial support from the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada. The project, Accelerating Business Growth, aims to promote sustainable job creation for low-skilled workers, including women and young adults, through a dynamic and growing small and medium business sector in Ethiopia.&nbsp;###&nbsp;To find out more, please visit <a href="../../index.html">www.renewcapital.com</a>.Photo by Ian Christmann: <a href="http://ianchristmann.com/">www.ianchristmann.com</a>.

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Press Release: RENEW's IAN Make Follow-on Investment in Ethiopia’s #1 Online Food Delivery Company

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Using Your DAF for Impact Investing</h1>Interested in optimizing your impact investing and philanthropy? No matter where you are looking to make an impact, a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) can be useful. During our recent monthly Impact Angel Network Member's Call, we had a special guest from ImpactAssets, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyboulter/">Sally Boulter</a>, to discuss how US investors can use a DAF to make impact investments. We thought you might enjoy listening to that part of the call. You can find the recording here:&nbsp;<a href="https://renewstrategies.formstack.com/forms/daf_for_impact_investing">DOWNLOAD THE MEMBERS' CALL RECORDING</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;During the call, we discussed how it is helpful to think of a DAF as a philanthropic checkbook. A donor transfers assets (e.g., cash, securities, other rights or assets) into a DAF account with a non-profit organization (like divisions of Charles Schwab and Fidelity, ImpactAssets and the National Christian Foundation) that is set up to manage DAFs and facilitate transfers into and out of DAFs in line with IRS rules. Donors then receive a charitable deduction in the amount of the value of the assets transferred to the DAF. The funds sit in the account until the donor is ready to make grants to charitable entities or to make impact investments. You can also download a Q&amp;A. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JF7QJfASnwqf31gWmkWX8wQfWhgvCFPx">LINK</a>.At RENEW, we are both investors and advocates for impact investing, especially now. Every investment, no matter how small, will have a significant impact. We applaud those that are rising to the call and investing during these challenging times, when capital is scarce but the need is high. If and when you are interested, we invite you to <a href="https://renewstrategies.formstack.com/forms/renew_investor_accreditation_form">apply to join the Impact Angel Network</a>.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/destapic_1_b66e1ff9c9.png"><figcaption>Photo by Ian Christmann: <a href="http://ianchristmann.com/">www.ianchristmann.com</a></figcaption></figure>&nbsp;

Interested in optimizing your impact investing and philanthropy?

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Using Your DAF for Impact Investing

<h1 style="text-align:center;">Celebrating our Impact</h1>Thank you in advance for taking a moment to read about the impact of RENEW’s work in 2019 and RENEW’s model. Though COVID-19 was not on our radar until the very end of last year, it is important to acknowledge that things have changed dramatically around the globe since then.As I write, we are hopeful that Ethiopia and much of Africa has in some ways been spared from the health crisis, but we are deeply aware that we have not been economically spared. Thankfully, as we look across the landscape at our pipeline, portfolio and the other companies we support with our partner, Global Affairs Canada, we see resilience and innovation. Matt and I decided to stay in East Africa along with our young daughter to weather the storm with our team and companies. It was not an easy decision given that the region’s healthcare infrastructure would likely not be able to handle a sizeable outbreak. But we felt that the economies in East Africa would likely need investors to step in where government stimulus programs do not exist to help support and restart local businesses.<figure class="image"><img src="/uploads/ian_internationalgathering_2_94d3057ddb.jpg"></figure>So I write to you from Ethiopia, where we have turned our office into a business continuity “command center”. We are helping companies re-purpose assets, pivot operations, and establish new partnerships with other companies in the IAN’s portfolio and our network. Data is now coming forward that confirms our initial read that developing countries, especially in Africa, will be impacted far worse economically than the developed world due to the global shut down of commerce and trade. And while we are aware that RENEW and the IAN will not prevent this across Africa, or even Ethiopia, we know small investments will go a long way.Now, to quickly summarize the last year, February 2020 marked eight years that RENEW and the IAN have been in Ethiopia. Before we arrived, there was one PE firm; now, there are over a dozen. RENEW’s Impact Angel Network (IAN) is the most active SME investment group in Ethiopia, and we have already achieved two exits! Before the IAN, most of the private sector had no option for financing. Unless you had a micro-enterprise or a huge company, there was nowhere to get $500K in much-needed growth capital. Now, entrepreneurs are advised to speak with RENEW’s angel network or pitch on Chigign ‘Tobiya, the investment TV show RENEW helped launch.The work is not just happening in East Africa, but it’s happening around the world with the Impact Angel Network. As we look backwards and forwards, we stand with the business community and those who are impacted by the economic crisis in East Africa. Together, we will get through this.Laura Davis and the RENEW Team.****A special thank you to our partner, Global Affairs Canada, for helping us increase the awareness and understanding of private equity investing in Ethiopia, to the members of the Impact Angel Network for believing in the vision and investing with us, to our entrepreneurs and their staff for their hard work and perseverance, to our development partners for their support to make this investment model possible, and to the RENEW team for their hard work on the ground and around the world.