The fund, AWIP II, will focus primarily on Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Dakar, Senegal, financing buildings that combine business space with hospitality and other commercial services.

The investment plan covers four to five properties, with a target size of approximately 5,000 square meters per asset and a planned portfolio totaling about 20,000 square meters.

AWIP expects the properties to become operational within 24 to 30 months and is targeting a 25% internal rate of return per asset.

The return figure represents an investment objective rather than a realized result.

Approximately 12 limited partners have committed capital to the fund.

Named backers include Robert Daussun of LBO France and Emmanuel and Matthieu Russel of Work & Share.

Other private investors include Bain & Company partner Marine Bellanger-Sood, former Ardian chief operating officer Jérémie Delecourt, Covivio deputy chief executive Aude Grant, and Hova Hospitality chairman Dominique Ozanne.

African family office investors include Groupe Filatex, associated with Hasnaine Yavarhoussen, and Spark Capital, associated with Rayan and Hicham Sharara.

Founded in 2025 by Grégoire Schwebig and Anthony Anziani, AWIP connects property investment and redevelopment with AfricaWorks’ operating business.

Its model involves acquiring urban properties and adapting them to accommodate offices, hospitality, event venues, and food and beverage services, with AfricaWorks directly managing operations.

The firm has offices in Abidjan, Dakar, and Lagos.

“From the outset, AfricaWorks was designed as an operational platform, close to the everyday needs of the businesses we support across Africa,” said Schwebig, AWIP’s co-founder and chief executive.

The strategy extends AfricaWorks’ involvement from providing flexible workspaces to financing and developing the buildings that house its services.

Combining several commercial uses within individual properties gives the group a way to serve companies, business travelers, and event customers through the same assets.

AWIP had previously identified the development of 20,000 square meters of mixed-use space, principally in Abidjan and Dakar, as part of its 2026 investment agenda.

AWIP II follows the firm’s first investment vehicle, which raised $8 million in 2025 from private investors and local commercial banks.

That capital has been fully deployed into two properties acquired through privately negotiated transactions in Dakar and Lagos, Nigeria.

Both are scheduled to begin operating in the first quarter of 2027.

The second fund expands the capital available for a property strategy that links European private investors and African family offices with commercial assets in West African cities.

Its practical significance will depend on delivering the planned buildings and establishing viable operations across their office, hospitality, and service components, turning committed capital into premises that businesses can use.