Mango Fund Case Study: How a Ugandan Investment Fund Is Doubling the Number of Women-Owned Businesses in Its Portfolio

This case study describes Mango Fund’s journey to improve gender equality through its business operations. Mango Fund is a woman-led Ugandan impact investment fund that invests in local entrepreneurs in a range of sectors, including agriculture. In 2021, Mango Fund established a goal to nearly double the number of women entrepreneurs in its loan portfolio within a year. To achieve this, Value for Women and Mango Fund, with support from Aceli, developed a comprehensive gender strategy and conducted a rapid assessment of its origination channels through brief interviews with existing clients. Over the course of the project, Mango Fund’s share of women entrepreneurs in its portfolio grew from just under 15% to ~25%.

This case study details the actions implemented by Mango Fund, the powerful results achieved to date in business operations and staff knowledge, and lessons learned. In so doing, it aims to contribute to filling the information gap on lending to women-owned agricultural small and medium enterprises (agri-SMEs).

This case study was designed for several primary audiences:
• Banks and non-bank financial institutions;
• Funders and gender technical assistance (TA) providers.