Private Equity | LeapFrog companies reveal new model of growth, creating 102,000 jobs

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: LeapFrog Investments today announced that its portfolio companies now employ 102,438 people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“Nothing sustains a family more than a secure job. Each job typically supports a family of five in our focus countries, while benefiting the wider community,” said Dr. Andrew Kuper, LeapFrog’s CEO and founder. “For the past three years, our financial services companies have grown annual revenue on average by 43 per cent, creating jobs at a breathtaking pace. This is profit-with-purpose capitalism at scale.”

The jobs figure is double the ambitious commitment LeapFrog made at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2012, to support 50,000 jobs by 2020. It was achieved in half the time.

LeapFrog measures its impact via a proprietary measurement system that provides a detailed accounting of value created, both financial and social. Of the people employed, 81,222 provide financial advice and client education. The majority now use mobile technologies to deliver lower-cost insurance, savings, credit or pensions to their local communities.

“We are also pleased to announce that our companies now reach reach 84.8 million people. 67.7 million of those individuals are emerging consumers,” said Kuper. “2.5 million people were newly reached in just the past quarter.”

All companies in which LeapFrog invests focus on emerging consumers, the four billion people globally who live on under $10 a day yet are rising rapidly into security and prosperity. These consumers represent an immense growth opportunity for entrepreneurial businesses that are willing to invest in the mobile technologies, data analytics and teams to serve vast new markets profitably.

LeapFrog recently announced that it has now obtained commitments of over US$1bn from some of the world’s leading institutional investors, and that it has expanded beyond financial services to also invest in companies providing healthcare at scale.

“Between the twin forces of saturated mature markets and a rising tide of mistrust of the establishment, these innovative firms offer a new way forward,” concluded Kuper. “They inspire us all to reinvent the way we do business across the world.”