(Adesuwa Okunbo-Rhodes. Photo Credit: Adesuwa Okunbo-Rhodes)
The Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital Management, Adesuwa Okunbo-Rhodes, has revealed that she landed her first job in investment banking at the age of 18 with Lehman Brothers, saying the experience laid the foundation for her career in private equity and impact investing.
An online news platform reports that Okunbo-Rhodes went viral two weeks ago following her interview with a popular US-based content creator.
Speaking on the Nigerian Audacity podcast published on YouTube on Tuesday, Okunbo-Rhodes said she later joined J.P. Morgan at the age of 20 before transitioning into private equity, where she discovered the potential of investing in African businesses.
She said she had always been interested in finance, recalling that she landed her first job in investment banking at Lehman Brothers at 18, and by 20 was already working for J.P. Morgan.
She explained that her experience investing in Africa exposed her to the concept of combining financial returns with social impact, saying that once she saw that intersection between profit and purpose, she knew she wanted to bring something similar back to Nigeria, where she could apply her finance knowledge while also improving people’s lives.
Okunbo-Rhodes said her return to Nigeria in 2014 helped her identify major funding gaps facing small and medium-sized enterprises as well as women-owned businesses.
She explained that one gap she noticed was that small businesses were struggling to get funded, noting that an SME in Nigeria looking to raise between one and three million dollars would typically find that the market had written off that segment as not worth pursuing.
She said most private equity funds would dismiss such businesses as too small, while banks would not extend capital without collateral, and she estimated the growth equity gap at about $150 billion for Nigeria and Ghana combined.
She added that women entrepreneurs were also significantly underserved despite Africa having the world’s highest rate of female entrepreneurship, noting that less than two per cent of capital was going to female entrepreneurs, which she found puzzling given that Africa’s rate of female entrepreneurship is four times that of Europe.
According to her, these discoveries inspired her to buy out her former employers in 2019 and establish Aruwa Capital, a private equity firm focused on women-led and women-focused SMEs.
She said the firm deliberately started with a $20 million fund rather than pursuing a larger fundraising target, explaining that instead of raising $100 million, she chose to raise $20 million first in order to build a track record and prove the model.
The investor disclosed that the strategy had paid off, with the company now managing $80 million across two funds.
She said what started as a $20 million first fund has now grown to $80 million under management across two funds, adding that the firm has invested in 16 companies so far and continues to demonstrate that investing in SMEs uncovers hidden opportunities that have long been overlooked and underserved, just as investing in women uncovers what she considers one of the best asset classes left in the alternative investments industry.
Offering advice to entrepreneurs seeking investment, Okunbo-Rhodes said investors look beyond business ideas, stressing that they are ultimately investing in people.
She said they look for founders who can clearly articulate the problem they are solving, demonstrate resilience, maintain good governance structures and show adaptability.
She noted that Aruwa Capital also supports its portfolio companies beyond financing by helping them strengthen governance, recruit financial professionals and improve their operational structures, adding that the firm does not just invest with money but also helps companies build stronger finance functions, governance structures and strategies, since capital alone is not enough.
