Jacana partners invests in process & plant sales

Jacana Partners has invested in Process and Plant Sales (PPS) Ghana Ltd, a supplier of industrial products and services to themining, construction and processing industries in Ghana. The investment will support the growth of PPS Ghana’s operations by increasing stock andproduct range and willfinance the company’s expansion to other West African countries.

PPS Ghana was founded in 1998 by a Ghanaian entrepreneur with over 24 years’ experience in engineering and supply chain management. Its team of highly trained technical experts sell a wide range of products from the world’s leading industrial brands, enabling the company to meet its customers’ needs right across the supply chain. PPS Ghana operates from four locations across Ghana and currently employs over 50 people.

Rudolph Matey, CEO of PPS Ghana said: “This latest round of financing from Jacana demonstrates that a leading investor recognisesPPS Ghana’s vision, value and the strength of our team. Thanks to the partnership, we will beable toachieve our business strategy of providing customerswith a greater variety of high-quality industrial products and services that we can deliver more quickly and reliably than ever before. We are more determined than ever to become a leader in the industrial distribution market in West Africa.”

KobinaNyantakyi, Operations Manager of PPS Ghana said: “The capital equipment, maintenance, repairs and operational requirements of the mining, oil &gas and general industrial sectorsin West Africa provide a significant untapped opportunity for PPS Ghana.This funding will allow us to ramp up our sales and marketing activity, strengthen our leadership position in the field of industrial distribution and fulfil the growing needs of our customers.

We chose Jacana because we needed a partner that could provide us with the capital to finance the next phase of our growth, but also provide value-add support in the management of the business, including improvements to our financial management, strategy and marketing.”

The investment marks the first project for Jacana’s partnership with EY Enterprise Growth Services (EGS), a non-profit EY programme that provides added value support to SMEs in emerging markets by deploying experienced consulting teams at heavily-subsidised rates.In the months leading up to the investment, Jacana has been working in partnership with EY EGS to improve PPS’ working capital management.

Simon Merchant, CEO at Jacana said: “The market for industrial consumables is growing rapidly in West Africa and PPS has an opportunity to expand throughout the region as the dominant local supplier for international companies.

We have the knowledge and international contact network to support this growth.An example of the value-add Jacana brings to its portfolio companies is the hands-on financial support PPS has received from EY. By reducing the company’s cash conversion cycle, EY’s work will ultimately help PPS torelease millions of dollars’ worth of capital back into the business.We are looking forward to working with EY’s EGS team to add value to more of our current and future investee companies in both East and West Africa.”