Bono-linked impact fund buys stake in Uganda’s biggest dairy

Rise Fund LP, an impact-investment fund with more than $4 billion in assets that the U2 musician known as Bono helped found, has acquired 34% of Uganda’s largest dairy processor in a bid to support smallholder farmers.

Pearl Dairy Farms Ltd., the Ugandan company, has the capacity to process at least 800,000 liters (211,280 gallons) of milk a day and is supplied by more than 10,000 farmers countrywide. The company has 1,800 employees across East Africa and sells its products in nine African countries, as well as Japan. The fund made a similar investment in India’s Dodla Dairy in 2017.

“In Asian and East Africa three out of every four farmers have limited access to markets and credit,” Jide Olanrewaju, a partner at Rise Fund, said in a statement. Pearl provides “vital infrastructure and training to farmers,” he said.

The fund, which is based in San Francisco, was founded in 2016 by Fort Worth-based TPG Capital LP along with Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, and Jeffrey Skoll, the former president of eBay Inc. Its investments range from a safari business in Botswana to U.S. education initiatives. Source: Bloomberg