BFA Asset Management has completed a landmark private credit investment in FoodCare, signaling growing momentum in Angola's nascent private capital ecosystem. The transaction was executed through Kimbo Fund, BFA Asset Management's impact oriented private credit vehicle focused on backing undercapitalized real economy businesses. Structured as a convertible note, the deal combines growth capital with downside protection and aims to unlock a significant scale up in FoodCare's production capacity and export reach.
Investment overview
The Kimbo Fund investment is presented as a strategic growth transaction designed to correct what the investor views as a clear market mispricing. FoodCare has built a viable export driven business yet has been operating below its potential due to limited access to appropriately structured capital. By deploying patient private credit with an option to convert, BFA Asset Management is positioning itself to share in the upside while supporting a company that sits at the intersection of agri processing, export earnings, and rural livelihoods.
Market opportunity and growth potential
FoodCare processes 25 traditional African food products, including staples such as cassava, mufu, and mopane worms, serving a fast growing global demand for African and specialty foods. The company currently operates at around 84 tons of production per month, while facing international purchase requests amounting to roughly 700 tons monthly. This gap, representing a supply shortfall of more than 800 percent, highlights both the constraints imposed by limited capital and the scale of the opportunity the new funding aims to capture.
Strategic rationale from BFA Asset Management
For BFA Asset Management, the investment is framed as both a data backed decision and a mission driven intervention in an overlooked corner of the economy. Chief executive Rui Oliveira portrays FoodCare as a business with strong underlying economics and a clear growth trajectory that has been constrained by a lack of suitable financing. He characterizes Kimbo Fund's approach as smart and patient capital that connects rigorous analytics with tangible human outcomes for farmers, employees, and local communities.
FoodCare's perspective and community impact
From FoodCare's standpoint, the partnership is described as a turning point after years of being forced to decline orders the company was technically capable of fulfilling. Founder and chief executive Marlene José notes that seeing FoodCare products reach shelves abroad confirmed the strength of their proposition, but the inability to scale production created a persistent sense of frustration. She believes the new investment will finally allow the company to respond affirmatively to global demand, extend the presence of Angolan products in international markets, and deliver more stable income opportunities to the smallholders and suppliers in its value chain.
Kimbo Fund's broader strategy
The Kimbo Fund strategy targets asset intensive, undervalued businesses that demonstrate strong customer stickiness and favorable industry fundamentals yet remain underserved by conventional lenders and investors. Rather than merely providing capital, the fund emphasizes technical support and strategic guidance to help portfolio companies professionalize operations and accelerate growth. The FoodCare transaction therefore fits within a broader thesis that well structured private credit can unlock value in industrial and agri processing segments that are critical for Angola's diversification and foreign currency generation.
Acceleration support and ecosystem development
FoodCare's trajectory has also been shaped by its participation in the Founder Institute global acceleration program in Angola, which provided mentoring, business structuring, and access to international investor networks. During this program, the company refined its value proposition and clarified its impact model, factors that later resonated with Kimbo Fund's investment criteria. The deal thus illustrates how local acceleration platforms, combined with specialized private credit vehicles, can create a pipeline for scaling high potential Angolan enterprises.
The Kimbo Fund investment in FoodCare marks a significant step in aligning impact focused private capital with a proven, export oriented agri food business in Angola. By addressing a clear production bottleneck and pairing financing with strategic support, the transaction seeks to translate robust demand indicators into real economic gains for the company and its supply network. If successfully executed, the deal could serve as a reference point for future private credit investments that aim to unlock hidden champions across Africa's food and industrial value chains.