Penultimate Friday, NASA astronauts – Christina Koch and Jessica Meir –
made history [1] with the world’s first-ever all-female spacewalk. The
plucky duo stepped outside the International Space Station (ISS),
hovering above the glowing blue earth and NASA live-streamed [2] the
spacewalk on YouTube. It attracted much attention from those who are
excited to see women in science crossing yet another barrier and are
also attuned to the significance of the moment for girls and young
women.
“There are a lot of people that derive motivation from inspiring
stories from people that look like them and I think it’s an important
aspect of the story to tell,” astronaut Koch said at a recent news
conference [1]. Without a doubt, the sight of two women getting down to
work outside the ISS is meaningful for young people who remain hungry
for female role models. “You can’t be what you don’t see [3],”
is a common refrain on the importance of diverse representation in
science, technology, business and other spheres.
But there is a flip scenario. Down on earth, in Nigeria, nay Africa’s
stern paternalistic and conservative milieu, the “gentler gender” –
the female of the human species – is expected to wear a lipstick, speak
shyly and softly and carry a handbag. Not any longer. That entire
self-serving, male gender conjured motif is being buried as new Amazons
enter the fray and are changing the harsh, historical narrative – in all
the fields of human endeavour.
Just last week, the Nigerian Air Force winged its first female fighter
pilot, Flying Officer Kafayat Sanni and first female combat helicopter
pilot, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile. On the challenging business
arena, the Aruwa Capital Management (“Aruwa”), a female-founded and
led private equity firm focused on Nigeria and Ghana, announced the
launch of a US$20mn co-investment vehicle. Significantly, Aruwa is one
of the few private equity firms, jointly owned and led by an African
woman – Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes.
According to the unassuming, gentle but gutsy Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes,
founding partner of Aruwa Capital Management, “We are excited to have
launched our co-investment vehicle and to be announcing our first
investment in Nigeria at the same time. We are grateful to our
co-investors who have put their trust in us and shared our vision for
the continent, generating superior returns, while having a significant
socio-economic development impact in the countries we invest in.
“Through applying a gender lens to our investment approach, we will
ensure we allocate capital to those businesses that help empower women
in society and improve the ratio of women in the workforce, at the board
level and across the value chain, which is proven to improve
profitability and growth and thus investment returns for us and our
co-investors.”
Aruwa’s mission is to provide patient growth capital to established
and rapidly growing companies in the small to lower middle market and it
expects to execute four to five investments, averaging US$1-5m, over the
next 24 months. To date, capital has been raised from international and
West African-based family offices and high-net-worth individuals. The
Vehicle is domiciled in Mauritius and management has committed capital,
demonstrating an alignment of interest with co-investors.
Aruwa’s team of investment professionals and portfolio managers, based
in Lagos, have already developed an extensive investment pipeline of
attractive opportunities, having been on the ground over the last four
years. The Vehicle has a generalist sector focus; however, the current
investment pipeline comprises companies in the consumer goods,
healthcare, non-banking financial services and B2B services sectors.
According to the company’s report, Aruwa follows an “Invest, Operate
and Empower” model, whereby the team drives the institutionalisation
of investee companies through active, hands-on involvement to support
internal financial control, operational improvements in processes and
decision-making tools.
As well as being one of the few private equity firms owned and led by an
African woman, Aruwa will be investing with a gender lens strategy.
Growth capital will be provided to both male and female-owned companies
with the aim of helping address the gender equality gap within portfolio
companies as well as targeting superior returns.
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes declares: “Being one of the few female-owned and
led investment firms on the continent, I am excited about playing my
part in changing the narrative with regards to women as capital
allocators. I hope Aruwa will be an inspiration to other young African
women who have a passion for impact investing.”
As it were, certain hard-to-ignore business environment factors make
Aruwa’s intervention and novel concept transformational. According to
the African Development Bank, over 70% of SMEs in Africa, which account
for a third of GDP and just under a half of total employment, lack
access to longer-term capital, creating an SME funding gap of more than
$140 billion.
This fact resonates with Aruwa’s top-down analysis, which reveals that
growth capital demand in Nigeria and Ghana currently stands at US $42
billion, growing to over US $160 billion in the next decade. Both
commercial banks and the majority of the private equity industry focus
on larger companies and larger transactions. The mismatch of demand and
supply provides a significant opportunity for Aruwa to generate
attractive returns for its investors while addressing the SME funding
gap in its targeted countries, creating significant development impact.
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, no less the proverbial chip off the old block,
clearly draws her enormous focus and Chutzpah from her father, Edo
State-born billionaire and philanthropist par excellence, Capt. (Dr)
Idahosa Wells Okunbo, Chairman of Ocean Marine Solution (OMS) Limited,
an offshore asset protection company, and a host of other successful
companies.
An unassuming, disciplined, big-hearted, deeply focused fellow with the
Midas touch and a large worldview, Capt. Okunbo, is no less a model, a
case study of success who, in his life and business experiences, has
traversed challenging grounds and come out tops, navigating with
integrity and a deep belief in the progress of humanity. He has
certainly infused in his children the strength and courage to conquer
and explore new frontiers. Adesuwa certainly mirrors this.
Pace-setting business pioneer Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, jet fighter pilot –
Flying Officer Kafayat Sanni, first female combat helicopter pilot,
Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile and NASA astronauts Christina Koch and
Jessica Meir, represent compelling models for women. They broke
contrived glass ceilings in diverse fields to show the way forward for
emancipation of the female gender. That clearly defines the trajectory
to chart.
· OJEIFO CONTRIBUTED THIS PIECE VIA OJWONDERNGR@YAHOO.COM
Sufuyan Ojeifo
+234 8034727013 +234 8023024800
Links:
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[1]
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?
[3]
https://www.themuse.com/advice