Adesuwa Okunbo Rohdes: Founder & CEO Aruwa Capital Management - From Vision to $60M AUM: How Gender-Lens Investing is Reshaping Africa

Imagine raising $60 million to back female entrepreneurs in Africa when less than 2% of venture capital flows to women across the continent. That's exactly what Adesuwa Okunbo Rohdes accomplished with Aruwa Capital Management , one of Africa's few female-led growth equity funds specializing in gender lens investing. From boarding school in the UK at age 11 to investment banking at JP Morgan, Adesuwa's path took a pivotal turn when she identified a crucial gap in the market: the severe underfunding of businesses led by or serving women across Africa. In 2019, pregnant with her first child, she took a leap that many called crazy – leaving the security of traditional finance to launch her own fund focused on backing women. The timing couldn't have been more challenging. After securing their first investment, COVID hit, forcing a complete strategy pivot. "We had to tweak our fund structure, reduce our minimum ticket size, and prove ourselves over and over," she reveals. Through persistence and creativity, Aruwa mobilized capital from non-traditional sources, primarily women investors willing to trust a first-time fund manager over Zoom during a global pandemic. Today, Aruwa's portfolio spans 13 companies across health, essential consumer goods, financial inclusion, and renewable energy – all either female-founded, female-led, or significantly benefiting women in their value chain. One standout success, Koolboks, provides solar-powered refrigeration for market women in off-grid areas. Since Aruwa's investment as their first institutional backer, they've grown revenue five-fold and expanded from Nigeria to 25 countries worldwide. Beyond financial returns that exceed global benchmarks, Adesuwa's vision extends to transforming Africa's investment landscape. She advocates powerfully for mobilizing African institutional capital to fund African fund managers, arguing that Western investment models often fail to address the continent's unique realities. "Until we have more African pools of capital driving this discussion, there is no skin in the game to go beyond just ticking boxes," she explains. Listen now to discover how persistence, purpose, and a deep commitment to gender equity can transform not just businesses, but entire economic systems. As Adesuwa puts it: "We don't need seats at the table. We need to create our own tables." ABS WEBSITE: ABS INSTAGRAM: LISTEN/FOLLOW/

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Adesuwa Okunbo Rohdes: Founder & CEO Aruwa Capital Management - From Vision to $60M AUM: How Gender-Lens Investing is Reshaping Africa is an episode from African Business Stories by Akaego Okoye.

This episode is 41:25 long.

This episode was published on Mar 18, 2025.

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