Abi is the Chief Executive Officer of the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), and brings several years of strategic leadership, financial and investment management and operational management to the role.
The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association is the pan-African industry body which promotes and enables private investment in Africa.
Prior to this role, she was Head of Business Operations and Finance at MedAccess (subsidiary of the CDC Group), which focuses on providing innovative finance to facilitate access to medicines across Africa and Asia.
She has held leadership roles in AVCA as Chief Operating Officer and as the Special Adviser to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment in Nigeria, where she focused on programs and policies to spur private sector investment and SME growth.
She began her career specialising in Group Treasury structured products in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group and qualifying as a Chartered Accountant through Ernst & Young.
It is obvious that in recent times, more women are rising up to the task and are proving themselves worthy of being at distinguished seats of honour. Such is the case of Abi, who for instance, during her tenure as AVCA’s Chief Operating Officer from 2016 to 2019, played an integral role in driving the Association’s strategy, prioritising knowledge exchange and digitisation.
Also, under her leadership, the Association strengthened focus on data and pioneering research, professional development support for private equity stakeholders, and strategic regional partnerships, all of which grew the membership to around 150 investors collectively managing US$1.5trn in assets.
It isn’t a surprise therefore, that she was found worthy of her current portfolio. She went through the process, got selected because she merited it and as such is serving as inspiration to others who aspire to rise in their career.
It gets better, even women who are already in such distinguished places are making recommendations for other women to be elevated too, not merely because those they want to come up are women, but because they qualify for the position.
Such is the case for Tokunboh Ishmael, Chair of the AVCA Board, who revealed that after a rigorous process, it was clear to the selection committee that Abi was the right leader for this chapter in AVCA’s life.
“Her knowledge of the African investment landscape, advocacy, business strategy and risk management will be instrumental in her role, leading the Association through its next phase and transformation, as investors and portfolio companies navigate various social, economic, political and institutional challenges.”
Abi is currently completing the Oxford Executive MBA at Saïd Business School. She holds a MEng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London.
