With eyes set on the increasing demands of East Africa's growing middle class, Kenya-based private equity firm Catalyst Principal Partners has started to make investments from its $125 million fund and property ventures.

Catalyst said they are focused on consumer demand on the regional front, where consumer demand is rising, to be boosted by recent oil and gas discoveries.

The private equity firm, which had finished raising cash for its first close-end fund in November, said it plans to invest 35 percent of the first fund in consumer goods, technology, financial services and industries.

The firm's first fund came mostly from development institutions, such as the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, which accounted for about 70 per cent of cash with the rest coming from various sources.

Catalyst has also set up a partnership, Acre Solutions, with an international property developer as it is considering setting up real estate investment trusts (REITs) in future.