Tokunboh Ishmael: Pragmatic thesis of an African impact investor
African Private Equity & Venture Capital Association optimistic about Africa’s PE market
Atlantic Dialogues 2015: Mobilizing Investments for Africa & Investing in Human Capital
Alitheia Identity as a part of Capria Network
Interview with Tokunboh Ishmael, Tokunboh Ishmael, Managing partner, Alitheia IDF
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Africa: The Final Frontier
Tokunboh Ishmael
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Ishmael has over 20 years experience spanning investment banking, private equity investing, technology and new business development in the USA, Europe and Africa. She is a co-founder and managing director of Alitheia Capital. Her previous roles include Country Partner for Nigeria at Aureos Capital where she successfully raised capital to complete a $50m fundraising exercise for the Aureos West Africa Fund, and sourced private equity investments. In addition, ‘Tokunboh worked at Obongo, a successful e-wallet silicon valley start-up acquired by AOL Time Warner.
Tokunboh Ishmael
Tokunboh Ishmael is an accomplished and experienced private equity investor with a proven track record. She is the Managing Director and co-founder of Alitheia Capital (www.thealitheia.com). In 2015, she co-founded Alitheia Identity (www.alitheiaidentity.com) a fund manager that invests in high growth small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with significant potential to grow profitably and deliver above-market returns. They do this through a proactive approach by searching for, identifying and funding female led founder and co-founder businesses in order to ensure greater participation of women at all levels from boardroom to factory floor.
https://guardian.ng/guardian-woman/tokunboh-ishmael-doing-good-by-doing-well/
Challenged a few years ago at an investment forum about the number of women-owned businesses she invested in, Tokunboh Ishmael, co-founder of Aliethiea IDF, faced the realization that after 15 years of private equity investing in businesses in Europe, Asia and North America, the answer was: none.
It was a turning point for the former investment banker, although her partner and co-founder, South African Polo Leteka, had been doing exactly that for years.
“We realised that we were meeting many women entrepreneurs who were running formidable businesses…Africa is full of lots of female micro entrepreneurs, but they were not receiving any finance,” Ishmael told a packed plenary session at the Africa Investment forum which closed Wednesday 13 November, in the South African capital Johannesburg.
Ishmael was speaking as part of a panel session dubbed “Promises made, Promises kept,” which included Ashish Thakkar, CEO and founder of Mara phones, and Masai Ujiri, President of the Toronto Raptors. Ishmael and Thakkar were on stage to share their testimonies.
By Adva Saldinger // 18 May 2020
WASHINGTON — The impact investing community is grappling with how the coronavirus crisis will affect growth and how entrepreneurs searching for capital in low-income countries will fare.
The past few weeks have seen the launch of a number of new coalitions and efforts to better collaborate. Some see an opportunity for financial industry transformation and impact mainstreaming, while others worry that money may flee for what some investors perceive as safer investments.
