In practice, the Trust Fund is a fund of funds and operates through Institutional Partnerships by means of joint venture arrangements that establish Venture Capital Finance Companies (VCFCs). Each VCFC is comparable to a small fund. VCFCs are managed by Fund Managers who act as GPs to the partnership and are licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Fund Managers are responsible for deal sourcing, selection, monitoring and exit of Fund investments. However, final investment decisions rest with the Investment Committee (IC) of all Funds. ICs are made up of representatives of Investors and mostly include independent Professionals who are appointed by the Fund’s Board of Directors to protect Investors interest.

VCFCs are encouraged to invest in all sectors of the economy, but are precluded from investing in businesses that engage in imports to sell. The maximum funding limit is 15% of total capitalization of a VCFC and a minimum of USD25,000. For purposes of VCFC investments, an SME is defined under the VCTF ACT 680, as a business whose total asset base, excluding land and building, does not exceed the cedi equivalent of USD 1.0million.

Since its establishment, VCTF has achieved the following:

• Leveraged its seed funding of GH¢22.4 million to create additional GH¢40.2 million from the private sector in a Public Private Partnership. VCTF’s Funds have a total of GH¢62.6 million to be invested in the SME sector;
• Trained and developed the capacity of three local indigenous Fund Management companies;
• Provided training and capacity building support to the pool of VCTF Funds’ portfolio companies almost annually;
• Provided education and public awareness on private equity and venture capital’s role in easing access to finance in Ghana;
• Financed 3,500 farmers directly, each year for three years running; and
• Created Two thousand Five Hundred (2,500) direct jobs and Four Thousand Five Hundred (4,500) indirect jobs.