Episode 229 – Investing in Africa’s Missing Middle | Matthew Rohrs

Between microfinance and private equity sits a gap most investors never think about — and it’s where 70% of job creation happens in emerging markets. Matthew Rohrs, leader of Sinapis, joins Henry Kaestner to explain how faith-driven capital can serve this “missing middle” of entrepreneurs across East Africa.

Matthew unpacks Sinapis’s Kingdom Business Framework, built on three pillars: a founder’s relationship with God, a mindset of stewardship over time, talent, and treasure, and a business’s tangible impact on its community. He shares how this integrated approach has helped Sinapis train and accelerate over 3,370 entrepreneurs, creating nearly 12,000 jobs and impacting more than 400,000 family members through supply chains — and why 72% of alumni report at least one employee coming to faith in Christ through their company.

The conversation also explores Kickwetu Flowers, a 30-acre flower export business near Mount Kenya whose founder has used company profits to drill boreholes for clean water access, launch a soccer program for at-risk youth, and feed 300 people a week — a living picture of what asset-based community development looks like when it’s led by a Kingdom-minded entrepreneur.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction: Matthew Rohrs and Sinapis

02:21 Sinapis’s origin story and scale across East Africa

04:00 Henry’s own journey from microfinance to the missing middle

05:57 Discovering the missing middle in Brazzaville, Congo

09:24 Evangelical Gnosticism and the sacred-secular divide

10:13 Why 72% of alumni see an employee come to faith

12:47 How walking with entrepreneurs has shaped Matthew’s own faith

15:22 Scalable innovation: the pathology network example

16:34 Is Africa more than fair trade and handicrafts?

18:42 Case study: Kickwetu Flowers and community impact

21:07 Introducing the Forge Network

23:33 Closing thoughts and where to find Sinapis