Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital Management, one of the few women-owned and women-led private equity funds in Africa, investing in untapped opportunities in the small to lower-mid market across West Africa. Adesuwa launched Aruwa Capital Management from her savings in July 2019 at just 29 years old, leaving behind the comfort of a six-figure salary to make an impact on society with her skills and track record, and to change the narrative for women and small businesses across Africa.
Adesuwa has over 15 years of investment banking and private equity experience from top global institutions. Prior to founding Aruwa Capital Management, she spent five years as Managing Partner of Syntaxis Capital Africa, a provider of growth capital to SMEs in Nigeria and across Sub Saharan Africa. Syntaxis Africa was part of Syntaxis Capital, a private equity fund active in other emerging markets with $300 million in AUM from global institutional investors. At Syntaxis Africa, she led transactions totalling more than $200 million across SSA. Prior to co-founding Syntaxis Africa in 2014, Adesuwa was in the Leveraged Finance and M&A teams at J.P. Morgan in London, where she was involved in $5.6 billion worth of transactions across emerging markets including Nigeria. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Adesuwa worked in Africa-focused PE fund, TLG Capital as an Investment Professional, involved in transactions across Anglophone Africa including a very successful investment in Uganda, where she personally invested and generated a very attractive return which enabled her to launch her own investment fund.
An entrepreneur, CEO, mother, investor, and women's empowerment advocate, Adesuwa is one of the youngest female private equity fund managers in Africa and runs the largest private equity fund in Africa run by a solo female GP. She firmly believes that investing in women is not only the right thing to do, given the role women play in society and the multiplier effect it can have on poverty alleviation for families, but also a sound financial decision, as investing in women and for women has been proven to deliver outsized, superior returns. Through Aruwa Capital Management, she is focused on using the firm's investments as a case study to make the business case for investing in women as fund managers, entrepreneurs, consumers, and stakeholders in society.
Aruwa Capital Management has $80 million in AUM across two funds and invests between $1 million and $3 million in equity and equity-linked instruments. It backs established, rapidly growing businesses in Nigeria and Ghana that are currently overlooked by other venture capital & private equity funds. Aruwa invests in companies that either provide goods and services catering to the largely untapped female economy, or that are founded or led by women, or that employ women across their workforce and value chain, reflecting the increased profitability of gender-diverse teams. By focusing on the underserved early-stage growth segment and on demonstrating the stronger returns generated by investing in women as consumers and entrepreneurs, Aruwa is able to combine outsized financial returns with lasting, positive socio-economic development and women's empowerment outcomes in the countries where it invests. The firm invests across rapidly growing, essential sectors including healthcare, financial services, renewable energy, consumer goods, agri-processing, and technology.
Adesuwa has won the 2X Global Woman Fund Manager of the Year award and was recognised as one of the 150 Eko Aspire Women by the Lagos State Governor and recognized as one of the 100 Laureates by Institut Choiseul (2021-2024) under the age of 40 shaping Africa’s future. Adesuwa is also a Young Global Leader under the World Economic Forum. She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol. She currently sits on several boards in Nigeria across healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture renewable energy and hospitality sectors. She is married with children and enjoys travelling, tennis and cooking.