Kuramo Capital Management (“Kuramo”) hosted its Annual Sub-Saharan Africa Day at the Harvard Club of New York during the UN General Assembly. The Annual Kuramo SSA Day brings Africa-focused investors, entrepreneurs and eco-system players together to connect and showcase the tremendous Sub-Saharan Africa growth opportunity through engagement with government and private sectors. This year, Kuramo hosted an engaging roundtable discussion on diversity in the African PE and VC space and catalyzing the next generation of female fund managers.
Female fund managers shared their experiences in building their funds and the opportunities for that focused on technology, sustainable infrastructure. Tokunboh Ishmael, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital spoke about thinking about the dividends of diversity as a source of alpha. Tokunboh said, ‘We want to show the importance of being intentional about diversity through ownership, through the boardroom, through management and through the producers in the value chain.’ Established in 2015, ARM Harith is one of the few indigenous dedicated climate focused funds in Africa. Managing Director and CEO, Tariye Gbadegsin spoke about the interlinkages between infrastructure projects and the positive impact on women and communities. ‘If we do not measure the impact, we are not able to tell the story.’ ARM Harith is building an Infrastructure Fund with a focus on sustainable infrastructure and climate action. ‘We see a great opportunity to invest in infrastructure projects that are leveraging on the transition and that position Africa for a low carbon future.’
As the only African gender lens fund manager focused on Web 3, Barbara from Unicorn Growth Capital highlighted the opportunity to invest in African fintech. ‘It is important that as investors of the future, we invest in this new internet economy – Web 3. The powerful thing about Web 3 that I get excited about frankly, is the addition. The whole point about this new internet economy is that we now give power to communities, to individuals, to businesses to control, own and monetize their assets- and that can unlock huge economic potential.’ In discussing how the investor community can better support female led funds, Barbara said, ‘It is important to make sure corporate governance structures are in place because that is really what will make companies survive going forward.’ In his closing remarks, Shaka Kariuki, CIO and Partner at Kuramo Capital commended the panel and the quality of the discussion and he further reminded the audience that , “From a commercial standpoint, this is an opportunity where we can make risk adjusted returns, it’s not just a moral obligation.”
