I first met Samuel Efosa-Austin, the chief expertise officer of a Lagos-based medical health insurance startup, at a category for enterprise capital lovers. As we learnt about enterprise capital fundamentals, he wasted no time in telling the category about his one-year plan to lift ₦100 billion for his fund, the ECO fund, to again firms attempting to unravel Africa’s knowledge infrastructure hole.
His method to elevating a fund in native foreign money and his give attention to knowledge initiatives piqued my curiosity. For a few years, the subject of elevating capital in native foreign money has been mentioned in Africa’s enterprise capital business, however only a few have launched into it.
These in favour of elevating capital domestically, like Efosa-Austin, typically depend on the logic that elevating capital from native backers reduces the strain of FX mismatch (when startups that increase in {dollars} wrestle to supply exits because of alternate price fluctuations) and retains the rewards for African innovation inside the continent.
“This fund is our proof of idea. If we present which you could increase in naira, construct a resilient knowledge infrastructure, and generate each social and monetary returns, we unlock a complete new asset class for African capital,” Efosa-Austin stated.
Nevertheless it is not going to be simple. While you ask buyers to present you long-term capital in native foreign money, you might be asking them to be uncovered to unpredictable devaluation. The enterprise capital business is famously high-risk and high-reward, and asking buyers to fund a dangerous asset class that may see returns eroded by 50–70% in greenback phrases over the fund’s life is a troublesome ask.
There’s additionally a shallow restricted companion (LP) base of buyers keen to take enterprise capital danger, particularly as pension funds and insurance coverage funds hardly ever spend money on native non-public capital. Some startups additionally want to lift in {dollars} as a result of they’ve important dollar-based prices like cloud payments, however Efosa-Austin instructed me that his fund will solely spend money on firms which have prices in naira and is counting on a rising wave of worldwide firms accepting native currencies for providers.
“What I hope this fund demonstrates is straightforward, however highly effective. Africa can fund its future in its foreign money; that verified knowledge is infrastructure, not overhead; and that influence and returns will not be opposites. They’re a flywheel,” Efosa-Austin stated.
For this week’s column, I spoke with Efosa-Austin to grasp how far he has gone with fundraising, why he determined to embark on this journey, what success appears to be like like for him, the significance of native capital, his funding observe report, and very best investments.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
What impressed you to lift a naira-denominated fund targeted particularly on knowledge infrastructure?
The inspiration for this fund got here from years of navigating the digital and financial terrain in Africa and realising one elementary fact: Africa can not construct a sovereign digital economic system with out proudly owning its knowledge infrastructure.
We’ve seen firsthand how innovation, expertise, and even funding exist in pockets throughout sectors—well being, agriculture, fintech, and governance—however they constantly hit a wall. That wall is the dearth of verified, native, and trusted knowledge infrastructure.
The push for a naira-denominated fund was not a monetary tactic; it was a strategic necessity. Too a lot of our improvements are constructed on infrastructure we don’t personal and are funded by capital that doesn’t perceive our context. This fund is a deliberate pivot to native capital, native management, and native worth seize. The goal a number of on the fund is 4X as companies that shall be funded shall be vetted by the administration crew and board of advisors of the fund as due diligence is vital to make sure security of funds and potential of returns.
Was there a specific occasion that satisfied you that native capital was the important thing to unlocking this area?
There wasn’t one “occasion”—there have been systemic breakdowns. The expertise hole: Sensible younger Nigerians educated in AI and knowledge science, with nowhere to deploy domestically.
The carbon hole: Africa holds carbon sink worth however lacks the verification infrastructure to monetise it. The mindset hole: Our economies proceed to attend for international validation earlier than investing of their innovation.
In brief, we realised we can not outsource the infrastructure of the long run. We should fund it ourselves with our foreign money, with our conviction.
How far alongside are you in elevating the fund?
We’re at the moment in lively discussions with a number of potential LPs like household places of work with a legacy curiosity in nation-building and innovation, company establishments exploring ESG-aligned investments, and improvement finance establishments (DFIs) with a mandate to scale local weather and civic infrastructure, and we’re making ready to have interaction state-backed pension fund managers who’re beneath strain to diversify portfolios in impactful native belongings.
These conversations are progressing deliberately. This isn’t a numbers recreation. It’s about curating the fitting LP base that understands Africa’s infrastructure timelines, respects native dynamics, and shares our perception in knowledge as a long-term utility.
What has been the largest problem in convincing native capital suppliers to again knowledge infrastructure initiatives?
Notion and legacy pondering. Most native capital suppliers nonetheless see knowledge as a “tech product” or “software program thought”, not a spine infrastructure like roads or power. They don’t but grasp that verified knowledge methods—knowledge centres, edge networks, civic platforms—are utilities, not luxuries.
There’s additionally a high-risk notion, rooted in a long time of failed IT initiatives or imported platforms with little native possession. A part of our work has been schooling and reframing. We’re exhibiting the business potential of verified knowledge, the financial influence of localised platforms, and the sturdiness of civic expertise infrastructure.
What has your private funding or working observe report been on this area?
I didn’t get up sooner or later and resolve to lift a fund. That is the results of over a decade of constructing, failing, studying, and rebuilding in Africa’s digital economic system. I’ve been on the bottom, constructing platforms like The ECO Platform, which isn’t simply one other civic tech device. It’s an AI-powered, verified knowledge engine designed to map and resolve actual neighborhood issues, from local weather monitoring to public accountability. We’ve labored with teams like ElectHER to ship knowledge infrastructure for girls in politics and the Royal Weré Basis on verified civic knowledge for youth initiatives.
I’ve additionally led coaching applications throughout West Africa via the Africa Know-how Management Academy, Blossom Academy, and INCO Academy, the place we’re skilling up the following technology of knowledge scientists, civic tech innovators, and ESG operators.
I’ve seen the infrastructure friction firsthand, not in boardrooms, however in communities the place citizen knowledge has no worth, the place public dashboards don’t exist, and the place innovation hits a wall as a result of there’s no native belief layer.
That’s why this fund is totally different. It’s not structured like a typical early-stage VC fund chasing returns in shiny startups. And it’s not your conventional infrastructure fund that solely appears to be like at roads and power.
We’re bridging the 2 worlds by making use of startup urgency to civic infrastructure whereas honouring the longer timelines wanted to construct methods that final. This fund is constructed by practitioners who’ve felt the gaps, not simply learn the studies. That’s what provides us an edge.
Are you elevating a single fund or utilizing a blended capital construction?
We’re pursuing a blended capital mannequin. Concessional capital from DFIs and impact-first LPs will unlock riskier layers—neighborhood knowledge assortment, early-stage verification pilots, and climate-related infrastructure.
Industrial capital will goal scalable parts—subscription platforms, ESG scoring engines, authorities knowledge contracts, and civic dashboards. This mix permits us to de-risk innovation, assist neighborhood infrastructure, and nonetheless ship risk-adjusted returns that meet business LP expectations.
What does success appear like for you?
Success is layered. On the numbers, we purpose to again 25–30 high-impact knowledge infrastructure initiatives throughout Nigeria and West Africa on this first cycle, from inexperienced knowledge centres to localised edge methods and data-enabled civic platforms.
However past inside price of returns (IRRs) or capability metrics, success is constructing belief in Africa’s digital economic system. If we will institutionalise verified knowledge as infrastructure, allow communities to personal their knowledge footprints, and create a brand new asset class for native buyers, then we’ve gained. IRR issues—however belief, usability, and native worth retention matter extra.
5 years from now, what sort of legacy do you hope this fund leaves in Nigeria’s digital economic system?
5 years from now, I would like this fund to be seen because the spark that shifted Africa from a client within the international knowledge race to a verified contributor. I need to see communities linked to scrub, renewable-powered infrastructure; native governments utilizing real-time dashboards powered by their residents; and buyers seeing native knowledge not as danger however as reward.
Our legacy must be clear. We didn’t simply spend money on knowledge, we constructed the rails for Africa’s new economic system.
Why is elevating in naira necessary for this thesis, particularly in a macro setting the place many funds are nonetheless dollar-based?
Elevating in naira isn’t nearly avoiding foreign money mismatch or FX volatility, it’s about reclaiming company over how Africa funds its future.
Most funds in Africa are nonetheless dollar-denominated as a result of that’s been the default playbook. However that playbook wasn’t written for our actuality. The volatility of the naira isn’t the chance; dependency is. Till we begin trusting our economies sufficient to spend money on them in our foreign money, we’ll preserve constructing infrastructure for others to revenue from.
Once we increase in naira, we preserve worth circulating inside the native economic system. Our LPs don’t have to fret about offshore constraints, and our portfolio firms can give attention to progress, not foreign exchange publicity.
We align incentives. Native governments, communities, and innovators develop into true stakeholders, not simply beneficiaries of international cycles. Elevating native foreign money is our manner of claiming Africa doesn’t want validation to spend money on its infrastructure. We’ve received the imaginative and prescient, the expertise, and now we’re constructing the monetary spine too.
So, sure, greenback funds may nonetheless dominate headlines. However we’re betting that the idea that verified knowledge, constructed and backed domestically, is Africa’s subsequent nice export. If we will show that mannequin with naira, we’ve simply rewritten the foundations for everybody.
What does a super knowledge infrastructure funding appear like for you?
For us, a super knowledge infrastructure funding does three issues: solves a neighborhood downside, builds belief via verification, and has a transparent mannequin for worth retention in Africa.
We’re taking a look at a layered method to infrastructure as a result of the truth is the continent doesn’t simply want massive shiny knowledge centres. It wants contextual, distributed methods that make knowledge usable, ownable, and monetisable domestically.
We’re investing in inexperienced, renewable-powered knowledge centres, particularly in underserved areas. We’re additionally investing in edge computing methods that may allow native governments or colleges to course of knowledge independently of unreliable broadband and civic and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) platforms that use verified knowledge to unlock authorities transparency, carbon credit score markets, or inclusive finance. We’re additionally taking a look at AI-driven verification methods that make African knowledge depend globally.
Are these offers structured as fairness, challenge finance, or some hybrid mannequin?
When it comes to construction, we’re versatile. The mannequin will depend on the stage and the stack. Some offers shall be fairness, particularly with platform performs. Others shall be challenge finance for infrastructure builds tied to authorities or institutional anchors. And in lots of instances, we’ll use hybrid fashions, the place milestone-triggered capital is deployed primarily based on verified utilization or influence knowledge.
We’re additionally open to co-location methods—partnering with telcos, campuses, or public infrastructure gamers to cut back price and scale sooner.
However the backside line is we’re not simply on the lookout for what’s investable. We’re on the lookout for what’s inevitable in Africa’s knowledge future—and ensuring it’s constructed with native possession on the core.
From an influence perspective, what metrics are you monitoring—jobs created, bandwidth entry, power utilization, geographic attain?
Impression isn’t a checkbox for us; it’s the explanation this fund exists. We’re not simply measuring feel-good metrics. We’re constructing a brand new influence layer primarily based on verified knowledge, native worth retention, and systemic entry.
Right here’s what we’re monitoring:
- Jobs created, particularly in inexperienced tech, AI, and neighborhood knowledge verification roles
- Bandwidth entry and infrastructure attain, significantly in areas which have been excluded from digital transformation narratives
- Renewable power utilization and carbon offsets in our knowledge infrastructure initiatives
- The variety of civic or public establishments that transfer from analogue to data-driven decision-making
- And critically: native possession of knowledge belongings—as a result of the long run have to be co-built, not extracted
How do you steadiness affected person capital objectives with the monetary returns anticipated by your buyers?
About balancing affected person capital with returns, that is the place our construction issues. We’ve designed the fund with a twin lens. On one aspect, we’ve received catalytic capital from DFIs and impact-first LPs who perceive long-term ecosystem constructing. However, we’ve received business tranches backing scalable platforms, subscription fashions, and authorities contracts.
The catalytic capital helps us de-risk the early levels, particularly the place verification methods or neighborhood infrastructure are concerned. As soon as traction is confirmed and methods are trusted, business capital can scale what works.
So we’re not sacrificing returns for influence or vice versa. We’re constructing a system the place each can develop collectively. As a result of in Africa, verified influence just isn’t a price; it’s a aggressive benefit.
Do you suppose native capital is underutilised in African infrastructure investing? What’s holding again extra native institutional cash from coming into this area?
Native capital is massively underutilised in African infrastructure, and it’s not as a result of the cash isn’t there. It’s as a result of the mindset hasn’t caught up with the chance. Native institutional buyers nonetheless consider infrastructure as roads, bridges, and actual property. They don’t but see knowledge infrastructure, particularly verified, digital-first methods, as foundational. They see it as experimental, high-risk, or another person’s accountability.
However right here’s the reality. If we preserve ready for international capital to construct our future, we’ll all the time be renters, by no means homeowners. We’ve received pension funds, insurance coverage swimming pools, and household places of work sitting on billions in native foreign money, but they’re parked in short-term performs whereas Africa’s digital infrastructure hole grows wider.
A danger notion that hasn’t developed, a scarcity of proof-of-concept fashions domestically, and a reluctance to fund innovation that wasn’t born within the World North are what’s holding them again.
However that’s precisely why this naira fund issues. If we succeed, and we are going to, it turns into greater than only a monetary instrument. It turns into a blueprint. A provable mannequin.
