Wale Ayeni, the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) regional head of venture capital investments in Africa, has left the organization, according to TechCrunch. After more than five years, Ayeni, who also managed the firm’s venture capital initiatives, most recently in the Middle East and Central Asia, is departing. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector part of the World Bank Group, is recognized for backing significant IT startups in frontier markets through its venture capital arm. Over the previous decade, it has invested over $800 million in early- and growth-stage startups.
Since joining the IFC in 2016, Ayeni has played a key role in the development of the IFC’s venture capital investment practice on the continent, as one of Africa’s most powerful investors. He oversaw the venture capital arm for four years and built the IFC’s startup strategy, focusing on B2B retail commerce and trade industries. In 2020, he advanced within the firm to co-lead disruptive technologies and venture capital investments, with roughly $2.5 billion in venture capital assets under management across frontier markets (Africa, China, India, Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia).
Then, in November of last year, Ayeni was promoted to head of venture capital investments for Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, a position he maintained until his departure this month. The IFC supported more than a dozen African digital businesses under Ayeni’s leadership in all three capacities. He spearheaded the firm’s investments in unicorns Andela and Wave, as well as Africa’s Talking, Kobo360, MaxAB, Brimore, TradeDepot, Twiga, the Philippines’ GrowSari, and mobility unicorn Bolt. Some of these startups have him on their board of directors.
The IFC also finances “funds of firms,” which are venture capital and private equity funds that invest in other businesses. Africa-focused funds including Savannah Fund, Algebra Ventures, Partech, TLcom Capital, Wamda, and SPE Capital are among the recipients. Ayeni serves on the boards of Partech and TLcom Capital, and has invested in firms such as Goldfinch, Ponto, and Paystack. Working on the “CSI” and “Snapdragon” chip architectures, Ayeni began his career as a microprocessor design engineer for Intel Corp. and then Qualcomm. He began his financial career at JP Morgan’s Technology Investment Banking department in San Francisco, where he completed more than $12 billion in concluded deals for large-cap technology customers, ranging from M&A through IPOs.
Prior to joining the IFC, Wale oversaw Orange’s venture capital early-stage investments in the United States and served as a principle adviser for EchoVC, an early-stage pan-African fund, from 2013 to 2016. In the note viewed by TechCrunch, the investor, who is also a board observer on Bolt — and would most certainly renounce some of these board positions following his withdrawal from the IFC — didn’t say what he expects to do next: Last week marked the end of my five-and-a-half years with the IFC. I can’t help but be thankful for the years of purpose, joy, learning, and development I’ve had working with incredibly brilliant, passionate, and mission-driven colleagues who are dedicated to changing the narrative in developing and frontier markets via action and technology.
The richness, breadth, and depth of the experience were only achievable because to the unwavering support and belief of colleagues who viewed frontier markets as a digital “opportunity” with really exponential possibilities if properly grasped. Everyone’s involvement over the previous several years has undoubtedly resulted in significant personal growth and development, for which I am thankful, and I am humbled by the extraordinary enthusiasm with which everyone embraced the development and impact component of what we all do. I owe a debt of gratitude to many people who have believed in the vision, and the list is too long to mention here, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Bill, Atul, Maria, and Nikunj for their unwavering support – and, most importantly, to the founders in these markets from whom I have learned the most.
