Shifting Capital with Jessica Espinoza

Nonkululeko Komanyane and Thandeka Xaba launched Digital Africa Ventures to bridge the funding and support gap for early stage tech entrepreneurs. In this episode, they speak about their journey with Digital Africa Ventures as one of the very few black women managed venture capital funds in South Africa. Tune in and listen to the inspiring story of two female tech investors on fire to serve the underserved and represent the underrepresented!

Jenny Atout Ahlzén is a Co-Founder and Partner at Amam Ventures in Jordan, an impact fund investing with a gender lens in businesses that are committed to diversity and inclusion. In this episode, Jenny talks about what inspired her to co-establish an investment firm and shares insights on the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Jordan as well as the global Zebra movement. With Amam Ventures, she is spearheading an innovative gender-smart investing strategy in the MENA region. Jenny also offers valuable advice for early-stage founders as well as women in the investment space who are thinking about raising their own fund. Tune in! 

Evelyne Dioh Simpa is Managing Director of WIC Capital, the first investment fund to exclusively target women-led early stage businesses in West Africa. The fund was set up in 2019 by the Women's Investment Club Senegal, a group of more than 80 Senegalese businesswomen. In this episode, Evelyne talks about her innovative evergreen fund structure tailored to the specific needs of entrepreneurs in the local context. WIC's model has since inspired women's investment clubs in other countries and Evelyne shares practical advice on how to replicate it. Evelyne also shares novel insights on how the field of gender-lens investing is evolving in West Africa and the change she wants to see in the broader investment industry. 

This episode takes us to the Venture Capital space in Latin America & the Caribbean. Anna Raptis is Founder & Managing Partner of Amplifica Capital, a VC fund with the goal of diversifying the investor base by actively increasing the participation of women investors in private capital. Anna's guiding principle is invest in the change you want to see. Amplifica Capital invests in companies in early stages, scalable, with innovative technologies that address important challenges in the region and improve people's lives. In this episode, Anna shares first-hand advice for women angel and VC investors, impact-driven tech startups and all of us who want to be part of the change. Tune in and hear about exciting new trends of technology for purpose, including mobility, insurtech, agtech and the rise of femtech!

Samantha Pokroy is Founder & CEO of Sanari Capital in South Africa, a private equity firm investing in growth companies emanating from Africa with regional and global scalability and exposure. Sanari Capital is majority women-led, and majority black- and women-owned. In this episode, Sam talks about her journey building her own investment firm, how Sanari transforms investment culture with a gender and racial equity lens, and she engages our audience in a courage conversation about privilege and how we can all be part of systemic change. Sam also shares first-hand advice for both entrepreneurs and emerging fund managers on how to overcome challenges and succeed in the industry. Tune in! 

Andia Chakava is a global thought leader in gender lens investing and Investment Director at the Graça Machel Trust. She was one of the first female fund managers on the continent and the youngest woman in Kenya to rise to the top of a multinational company, making Managing Director at age 30. In this episode, Andia shares novel insights into her journey, the challenges she faced along the way and advice on how to find your tribe, break the glass ceiling, and change the game for underrepresented founders. Andia is convinced that we can all be the change we want to see – tune in and get inspired!  

Cathy Goddard is the CEO and Founding Partner of FyreFem, a South African-based women-owned private equity and debt fund. FyreFem is currently fundraising for Firebird Revitalisation Fund, an SME focused fund with a unique gender lens strategy. Cathy is combining her longstanding track record as a business rescue practitioner with her passion for gender equality to bring women into corporate ownership through a rescue-and-build strategy. In this episode, she offers insights into why the class ceiling is so incredibly thick in the private equity industry, how to get more women into investment committees, and how to catapult women into corporate ownership through innovative financial engineering. Tune in!

Kalsoom Lakhani and Misbah Naqvi are Co-Founders and General Partners at i2i Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology-enabled startups solving big problems in Pakistan. Both have worked with startups in Pakistan for over a decade – and are excited by dynamic and audacious founders. Their sister company Invest2Innovate's flagship program, the i2i Accelerator, has graduated 47 startups that have gone on to raise over $9.5M and create over 2.000 jobs since 2012. In this episode they share insights on innovations and trends in the tech sector, advice for young entrepreneurs pursuing tech-enabled business models, and their vision for the investment industry in 2030. Tune in!

Season 1 kicks off with Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder and Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital in Nigeria, celebrated as one of the Top 35 Women Moving Africa Forward for her commitment to advancing gender equality in private equity.As one of the pioneer women-owned and -led growth equity and gender lens funds on the African continent, Adesuwa shares novel insights and success stories from the Aruwa Capital portfolio to close the finance gap for women in Africa – and as a result – close gender gaps across our societies. She is proving the business case for gender lens investing, promoting women's empowerment along the business value chain whilst generating attractive returns for investors. Tune in!