Globally, women remain under-represented in the senior ranks of venture capital. Recent data shows that women hold roughly 15% of partner or decision‑making roles at VC firms worldwide, with only a fraction of firms led by women founders or majority-female partner teams. In the US, women now hold almost a fifth of top investment roles, including partner and managing partner roles. It’s a notable increase from a decade ago, but still far from parity.
In Africa, the picture is both challenging and promising. A 2023 survey of venture firms active on the continent found that approximately 40% of VC firms have at least one female partner, founder, or managing partner, rising to nearly 48% among Africa‑based firms.
As the proportion of women in senior decision‑making roles grows, so too does the importance of their influence on capital allocation and the strategic direction of the ecosystem. In celebration of Women’s Month, we celebrate the women at the helm — leaders whose work shapes investment flows and unlocks opportunities for founders across Africa’s startup landscape.
Yemi Keri
Yemi Keri is a prominent figure in Africa’s venture capital ecosystem, known for championing early-stage innovation and expanding opportunities for women investors. She is the co-founder of Rising Tide Africa and currently serves as president of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), where she plays a leading role in strengthening angel investing across the continent. In 2025, she was recognised as Angel Investor of the Year at the ABAN Awards.
Keri is also the CEO of Heckerbella Limited. Her career spans technology, telecommunications, and public service. She previously served as Executive Director of ICT for the Edo State Government from 2009 to 2012 and later worked as General Manager at Ntel.
A trained accountant with a BSc from the University of Maiduguri, she also holds an MSc in Information Technology, as well as certifications from the Lagos Business School and the London School of Economics. She currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Investment One Financial Services and First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
Mobola Da-Silva
One of the women helping shape Africa’s venture capital landscape is Mobola Da-Silva, a partner at Capria Ventures since 2023. Before joining Capria, she was a partner at the uMunthu Fund and a principal at Alitheia Capital, two firms focused on backing high-growth businesses across the continent.
Educated at the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Austin, and London Business School, Da-Silva has also built experience across consulting and development finance, including roles at Accenture and the United Nations Development Programme. She also previously served as a venture partner at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.
Today, her work at Capria helps to channel investment into the continent’s startup ecosystem while supporting founders building solutions for local markets.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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Trish Thomas
Trish Thomas is the CEO and co-director of Cascador Nigeria, an organisation that supports entrepreneurs through capital, mentorship, networks, and knowledge. Last year, Cascador launched a $2 million fund in partnership with Sterling Bank to provide debt financing to its alumni, continuing its mission of empowering founders to scale their businesses.
Since launching in 2019, Cascador Nigeria has provided education, mentorship, and leadership development to more than 60 entrepreneurs in Nigeria helping them to build more sustainable businesses and scale. Thomas is also the Executive Director, Empowering Economic Growth Foundation (EEGF).
The programme has supported entrepreneurs such as Abimbola Adebakin of Advantage Health Africa, Michael Ogundare of Crop2Cash, Babatunde Akin Moses of Sycamore, and Seun Alley of Fez Delivery and provided more than 4 billion in debt funding to nine businesses in 2025. Before leading Cascador Nigeria, Thomas held senior roles globally, including as global head of marketing at AirFuel Alliance, a coalition advancing wireless power adoption, and as CEO of TEEM, a Colorado-based marketing agency.
Yewande Odumosu
After earning an undergraduate degree in electronics engineering from the University of Lagos, Yewande Odumosu built a career spanning engineering, technology, and startup investing. She has held roles at global and regional companies, including ExxonMobil, Vodacom, Google, and Softcom, gaining experience across telecommunications, energy, and digital platforms.
Alongside her corporate career, Odumosu co-founded ByteMars, a company that helped individuals learn digital marketing skills more quickly.
She has since become an active participant in Africa’s early-stage investment ecosystem. Odumosu is a limited partner at RaliCap and co-founded HoaQ, an angel syndicate that backs promising African startups. Through HoaQ, she has supported companies including Raenest, Chowdeck, LemFi, Norebase, and Bamboo.
Eloho Omame
Eloho Omame is a partner at TLcom Capital, a seed-to-early growth venture firm managing about $250 million and backing high-growth startups across key African markets, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt. In 2021, she also co-founded FirstCheck Africa, one of the continent’s few female-led venture funds focused on investing in women founders at the pre-seed stage.
Beyond investing, Omame has played an important role in shaping the policy and support infrastructure around African startups. She is a member of the Nigeria Startup Consultative Forum created under the Nigeria Startup Act and previously led the Nigerian arm of Endeavor, where she supported early-growth entrepreneurs across West Africa.
Biola Alabi
Biola Alabi’s path into venture capital has been anything but linear. She initially studied public health after becoming disillusioned with pharmacy, and once planned to return to medical school. Instead, her career moved into media, technology, and eventually startup investing.
Alabi built an international career working with organisations such as Daewoo Motors, Bigwords, Sesame Street, and later MultiChoice, where she became managing director of M-Net Africa. Her time in media also led her into filmmaking. Through Biola Alabi Media, she produced titles including Banana Island Ghost, Lara and the Beat, and Bukas and Joints.
Alongside her media career, Alabi has built a track record as an angel investor, backing African startups for over a decade. Her portfolio includes companies like Trove and Chekkit.
She later served as general partner at Acasia Ventures and now works as an investment partner at Delta40 Venture Studio, where she continues to support early-stage founders across Africa’s growing innovation ecosystem.
Ashim Egunjobi
Ashim Egunjobi is the Managing Partner at Octerra Capital, a venture capital firm founded in 2021 to back African startups. Her career spans technology, private equity, and entrepreneurship.
Egunjobi began her professional career in Germany before moving to Africa, where she gained experience in private equity. She also spent several years at Tek Experts, a global technology company focused on IT management, training, and outsourcing services, where she rose through the ranks and, at one point, served as Country Manager for Nigeria.
Alongside her corporate career, Egunjobi has entrepreneurial experience as the co-founder of Anne Li Unique Designs, a lifestyle brand for toddlers and their parents. At Octerra Capital, she focuses on supporting early-stage founders with both capital and strategic guidance.
Taiwo Kamson
Taiwo Kamson is a principal at EchoVC Partners, one of the continent’s earliest indigenous venture capital firms. Kamson joined EchoVC in 2019 as a vice president and has since risen to principal, playing a role in sourcing and supporting investments in African startups at a time when the ecosystem has seen rapid growth.
A graduate of Covenant University with a degree in banking and finance, she previously held roles at Afrinvest West Africa and United Capital, where she gained experience in investment and financial advisory. She also holds an MSc in finance and investment management. Alongside her work in venture capital, Kamson is also the co-founder of Foodie in Lagos, a platform that spotlights the city’s food and lifestyle scene.
Nneka Eze
Nneka Eze has spent much of her career figuring out what it would take for African businesses to get the capital they need to grow. Today, as Managing Partner at VestedWorld, she backs founders building essential products and services across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. The firm has invested in companies such as Jetstream Africa, Complete Farmer, Yemaachi Biotechnology, and Ando Foods.
Before moving into venture capital, Eze spent more than a decade on the advisory side. At Dalberg Advisors, she was the founding Nigeria director and co-led the firm’s global agriculture practice, helping drive investments and policy work across Nigeria, Senegal, and Kenya. Earlier in her career, she spent two years at McKinsey & Company.
A Harvard University graduate with a degree in economics, Eze has spent over two decades working across Africa, building a career dedicated to connecting capital with African entrepreneurs and the markets they serve.
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes is the founder of Aruwa Capital Management founded in 2019. At the time, it made her one of the youngest female fund managers on the continent. The firm focuses on investing in established and rapidly growing businesses in Nigeria and Ghana, typically deploying between $500,000 and $2 million through equity and equity-linked instruments.
Aruwa places a strong emphasis on companies that serve the female economy or are led by women. Its first $20 million fund backed startups including FairMoney, Pngme, and Koolboks. Building on that momentum, the firm recently announced a $35 million first close for its second fund.
Tosin Faniro-Dada
Tosin Faniro-Dada is a partner at Breega, a venture capital firm with a $75 million fund supporting startups across Africa. She also serves as a non-executive board member at Flutterwave, one of Africa’s most prominent fintech companies. Before joining Breega, Faniro-Dada was the managing director of Endeavor Nigeria, where she worked closely with high-growth founders.
Her earlier career spans both banking and public sector roles, including time as a senior banking officer in Skye Bank’s corporate banking division and director of programmes and coordination at the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, where she helped drive initiatives supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Yewande Adewusi
Yewande Adewusi is the chief operating officer at Alitheia Capital, one of Africa’s leading impact investment firms. She previously mentored startups through Techstars, supporting founders navigating the continent’s evolving innovation ecosystem. Adewusi’s diverse career spans finance, media, and development.
She previously served as regional director for Africa at BBC News and held roles within BBC Advertising. Earlier in her career, she was deputy CEO at EFinA, an organisation focused on advancing financial inclusion in Nigeria. Her professional background also includes banking roles at UBA and Oceanic Bank (now part of Ecobank), as well as experience in mobile money through Airtel Money.
