About Us

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Our experience as investors and operators gives us a bird's eye view and local knowledge about the African startup ecosystem. Our goal is to ensure investors are protected and provided with the insights, intelligence and diligence required to make investment decisions into startup opportunities. Our executive management team of partners and advisors have over 75 years of combined experience working and leading venture firms, financial organizations, legal firms and technology companies. We pride ourselves as being the best team for the tasks.

Olaide Olusoji-Oke is a seasoned finance strategist with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record of excellence in auditing, business assurance, strategy, planning, treasury management, venture capital, liquidity management, fundraising, investors’ relationship, IFRS financial reporting across several verticals including oil and gas, technology, healthcare and investment. 

She is the go-to person for financial strategy and management, investor relations, treasury management, business and audit assurance, compliance, taxation, data and process control, general finance, and reporting with a keen eye for numbers and their interpretation for better business decision making. 

Olaide has extensive experience working with Asset & Resource Management (ARM) Company Limited where she served as Assistant Vice President, Financial Reporting and subsequently as the Chief Financial Officer of ARM Investment Managers Limited, one of the largest non-financial institutions in Nigeria with funds under management of ~USD$1.1 billion (as of December 2018).  Olaide also served as General Manager, Finance & Operations at EchoVC Partners, a venture capital firm investing out of Africa across emerging markets and the US. She drove fund operations and led portfolio operations for over 40 startups. She subsequently worked at Hygeia Nigeria Limited (Lagoon Hospitals), a Healthcare provider where she served as the Chief Financial Officer and implemented operational and financial processes. 

She works alongside the client’s team at all levels of the organization to develop practical solutions that deliver repeatable and sustainable results across the African Market with a collaborative spirit to every engagement.

Olaide is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and holds an MBA from the Business School Netherlands. She currently serves as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Corporate Finance Management Faculty Programs Subcommittee.

Damilola Thompson is an experienced investment professional with a proven track record of success in building and executing effective investment strategies for a diverse range of clients. With over a decade of experience in the field, Damilola has honed her skill and has core competencies in investments, legal, compliance functions, developing and implementing strategic growth & market entry plans, and in corporate development.

Prior to this, she was VP, Global Head of Emerging Markets and VP, Global Markets Expansion of TradeX, a Series B marketplace startup where she successfully led and drove global and emerging markets expansion to Africa, Middle East, Japan, and Latin America. Dami also served as Vice President & Associate General Counsel at EchoVC Partners (TPG’s small cheque growth stage platform for Africa) and has over a decade of experience investing in and supporting entrepreneurs improving quality of life and solving friction across Emerging Markets.  At EchoVC, Dami managed a portfolio of over 40 tech and tech-enabled companies across Africa, USA, India, and Latin America, and sat on the boards of several portfolio companies. In her years of experience, she sourced, drove, and conducted extensive due diligence in early-stage and early-growth technology startups in the Automotive, Mobility, Financial services, SaaS, Marketplace platforms, Logistics, Healthcare, API economy & infrastructure sectors etc. Dami is also an angel investor in 25 startups across the US and Emerging Markets.

Dami has graduate degrees in law from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, a Master’s in Business law and Technology from University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Business Administration degree from William Jessup University, San Jose. She has also completed various post-graduate courses including the Kauffman Fellows Academy course on Venture Capital and is an Associate Arbitrator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom.