By
PATRICK KOKOMMA
Given the vision, Rhodes’ life tells the tale of gender equality.
for establishing a respectable organisation that promotes women’s empowerment through
entrepreneurship and business.
Her conviction that women can bring about unstoppable social change has been the driving force.
behind her contributions to society.
Her narrative serves as motivation for women who think they can be better than who they are.
are.
Adesuwa Rhodes is an entrepreneur, CEO, mother, investor and women’s empowerment
advocate. She is one of the youngest female private equity fund managers in Africa at 36 years
old (16 February 1990)
She holds a BSc in economics from the University of Bristol. She started her career at Lehman
Brothers, and currently sits on eight boards in Nigeria across healthcare, manufacturing,
agriculture, renewable energy and hospitality sectors.
Rhodes is the founder and managing partner of Aruwa Capital Management. Prior to founding
Aruwa, she was the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Syntaxis Capital Africa, a provider of
growth capital to SMEs in Nigeria and across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Having launched Aruwa Capital Management with her own money in Lagos in July 2019.
Aruwa Capital Management is a Lagos-based, early-stage growth equity and gender lens $20
million fund that invests between $500,000 and $2.0 million in equity and equity-linked
instruments into established and rapidly growing businesses in Nigeria and Ghana that are
currently overlooked by other private equity funds. Aruwa invests in businesses that either
provides goods or services that cater to the untapped $15 trillion female economy or businesses
that are founded or led by women or employ women in their workforce or value chain due to the
increased profitability of gender-diverse teams.
She believes that investing in women is not only the moral thing to do, given the role women play
in society and the multiplier it can have in terms of poverty alleviation for families but also
because investing in women and for women has been proven to deliver outsized and superior
returns. Adesuwa is focused on using Aruwa Capital Management’s investments as a case
study to make the business case to invest in women as fund managers, entrepreneurs,
consumers and stakeholders in society.
Due to its focus on the early-stage growth segment that is free of and its focus on showcasing
the increased returns that can be generated when investing in women as consumers and
entrepreneurs, Aruwa can successfully combine outsized financial returns with long-lasting
positive socio-economic development and women empowerment outcomes in the countries it
invests in. Aruwa invests across rapidly growing and essential sectors such as healthcare,
financial services, renewable energy consumer goods, agri-processing, and technology.
Prior to co-founding Syntaxis Africa in 2014, Adesuwa was in leveraged finance and M&A.
teams at J.P. Morgan in London, where she was involved in $5.6 billion worth of transactions
across emerging markets including Nigeria.
Prior to J.P. Morgan, Adesuwa worked in Africa-focused PE fund, TLG Capital as an Investment
Professional, involved in transactions across Anglophone Africa.
ACHIEVEMENTS
● She was named as an AGENT OF IMPACT in 2019 by Impact Alpha and recognised as
One of the top 35 women moving Africa forward in 2020. In 2021, she was named as
one of the Top 100 global leaders combining profit and purpose by Meaningful Business
and Ernst & Young.
● In 2022, Adesuwa was named as one of TOP 100 African leaders under the age of 40
by the Institut Choiseul, set to play a major role in the economic development of the
African continent and also recognized as one of the Top 50 Inspiring Women in Nigeria
by BusinessDay.
● In 2023, Adesuwa received national recognition from the Executive Governor of Lagos
state in Nigeria, as one of the 150 women in Nigeria contributing towards achieving
gender equity and nation building.
● With Aruwa Capital’s $20 million Fund backed by global institutions, Adesuwa is the
The only female GP in Nigeria to raise over $10 million in a first fund.
Adesuwa is happily married with a son and enjoys travelling, tennis and cooking.
A testimony that in a pursuit for seeking meaning in life, nothing stands to define you, especially
gender-wise. The act of pursuing your goals irrespective of people’s opinions, criticisms, backlash
and display of immoral incompetencies, is a term that earned her the recognition as an Agent of
Impact.
About the Author
