Adiwale Partners, an independent private equity fund manager led by Togolese founder and leading finance executive Jean-Marc Savi de Tove, has invested $5.8 million in Enko Education and secured a minority stake in the South African firm.
Adiwale Partners’ $5.8-million capital commitment in Enko Education, a South African firm that operates a rapidly expanding network of African international schools, was funded by new and existing institutional investors and family offices.
The investment, which gives the de Tove-led private equity firm a minority stake in Enko Education, will be used to invest in Africa’s education sector and select models with a long-term impact on the continent.
Enko Education’s founders, Cyrille Nkontchou, chairman, and Eric Pignot, general manager, commented on the recent acquisition, stating that the partnership with Adiwale Partners will allow Enko Education to accelerate its development on the continent.
“We intend to make acquisitions and to sign partnerships with schools that will be managed by Enko Education, making these schools more competitive and more impactful than on a stand-alone basis,” Nkontchou and Pignot said jointly in a press statement obtained by Billionaires.Africa.
According to de Tove, managing partner at Adiwale Partners, the funding round will enable the group to develop its network, strengthen its operational capacities, and develop its value proposition as a school operator, allowing thousands of young Africans to receive a quality education and later access the world’s best universities.
Enko Education is Adiwale Partners’ second investment this year, and the first in the education sector. It comes four months after the private equity firm acquired a minority stake in IDC, a West African mining drilling services company.
With Enko Education, Adiwale Partners — the investment company founded in 2016 by de Tove and Visseho Gnassounou — is moving into a sector with high potential on the continent.
de Tove is a well-known professional and executive with 20 years of experience in private equity and capital markets in Africa, the United States, and Europe. Prior to founding Adiwale, he was Africa Portfolio Manager at the CDC Group (London), a private sector development agency in the United Kingdom.
Over six years, he has invested more than $600 million in leading African funds such as Helios, ECP, AfricInvest, African Capital Alliance, AFIG, Aureos, and Catalyst, and served on their supervisory boards.
