Shifting Capital

Our first episode kicks off with Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder and Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital in Nigeria, celebrated as one of the Top 35 Women Moving Africa Forward for her commitment to advancing gender equality in private equity.

As one of the pioneer women-owned and -led growth equity and gender lens funds on the African continent, Adesuwa shares novel insights and success stories from the Aruwa Capital portfolio to close the finance gap for women in Africa – and as a result – close gender gaps across our societies. She is proving the business case for gender lens investing, promoting women’s empowerment along the business value chain whilst generating attractive returns for investors. Listen below!

Kalsoom Lakhani and Misbah Naqvi are Co-Founders and General Partners at i2i Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology-enabled startups solving big problems in Pakistan. Both have worked with startups in Pakistan for over a decade – and are excited by dynamic and audacious founders. Their sister company Invest2Innovate's flagship program, the i2i Accelerator, has graduated 47 startups that have gone on to raise over $9.5M and create over 2.000 jobs since 2012. In this episode they share insights on innovations and trends in the tech sector, advice for young entrepreneurs pursuing tech-enabled business models, and their vision for the investment industry in 2030. Tune in!

Cathy Goddard is the CEO and Founding Partner of FyreFem, a South African-based women-owned private equity and debt fund. FyreFem is currently fundraising for Firebird Revitalisation Fund, an SME focused fund with a unique gender lens strategy. Cathy is combining her longstanding track record as a business rescue practitioner with her passion for gender equality to bring women into corporate ownership through a rescue-and-build strategy. In this episode, she offers insights into why the class ceiling is so incredibly thick in the private equity industry, how to get more women into investment committees, and how to catapult women into corporate ownership through innovative financial engineering. Tune in!

Andia Chakava is a global thought leader in gender lens investing and Investment Director at the Graça Machel Trust. She was one of the first female fund managers on the continent and the youngest woman in Kenya to rise to the top of a multinational company, making Managing Director at age 30. In this episode, Andia shares novel insights into her journey, the challenges she faced along the way and advice on how to find your tribe, break the glass ceiling, and change the game for underrepresented founders. Andia is convinced that we can all be the change we want to see – tune in and get inspired!