A Black-owned investment firm says its portfolio companies have created 150 new jobs, with women accounting for 65% of the positions, as it seeks to raise at least R2 billion for its second impact fund.

Maia Capital Partners says its first Debt Impact Fund has invested R872.8 million in seven businesses, with 97.9% of its investable capital deployed. The firm says it is targeting a larger second fund to extend financing to South African businesses that often struggle to secure funding from mainstream lenders.

The new fund is rand-denominated and closed-end, with a 10-year investment period and quarterly distributions.

Behind the figures are real livelihoods. Maia Capital’s second Impact Report, covering March 2025 to February 2026, shows portfolio companies employing 1,002 people, including 150 new jobs, 65% of them going to women.

Spending on vocational and technical training grew to R41.41 million, from R1.88 million the year before. At FinCredit, R100 million in mezzanine funding opened up about R95 million in credit, with R38.3 million reaching women. The R75 million invested in Apex Fund Services also helped NtisoAkhona, a 100% Black-owned consortium, take a minority stake in a firm that administers more than R5 trillion in assets.

Investors have benefited, too. Fund I paid out R213 million, about 20% of its roughly R1.079 billion in commitments, including one successful exit. These results were recently shared at Maia Capital’s Investor Day in Johannesburg.

Executive Chairman, Mutle Mogase, spoke about the widening gap between economic progress and the everyday lives of many South Africans, and why mobilising investment capital matters so much.

“It is these gaps that Maia Capital exists to mobilise private capital, to alleviate some of the ills, in a commercially viable way, thus making sure the solutions are sustainable.”