Tope Lawani, CEO of Helios

He's on top of his game and has perfected how to invest in success. He is Tope Lawani — the pride of Nigeria who has earned his MIT and Harvard education and is now making waves across the globe as a private equity pioneer. His firm, Helios Investment Partners, is Africa's largest private equity firm, focusing on technology, infrastructure, and sustainability. This special episode of the #WalkerWebcast is an inspiring discussion between Willy and his Harvard Business School classmate. They cover the makings of investing in the world's fastest-growing continent, how advanced digital payment platforms are allowing African nations to leapfrog parts of the western world, and how private capital has created economic and social value throughout the African continent. Tope tells his origin story, which seemed perfect for his immense contributions today. When he was younger, he lived essentially on campus with close to 100 nationalities. Surrounding his home are neighbors from Taiwan, Israel, Korea, Jamaica, Sierra Leone and people he has learned and interacted with from almost all parts of the world. "I grew up in an extremely multicultural environment. From the get-go, I was always comfortable with everyone coming from different backgrounds. I went to school with the kids from all strata of society. They were children of the president, the vice president, all the heads of the armed forces. But equally, a decent percentage of my school kids were probably the first kids in their entire family history ever to go to school. They turn up to school with all their belongings in a sack of rice." Tope adds that his unusual childhood can be difficult to replicate. Working for TPG Capital from 1996 to 2004 has taught Tope to be creative, entrepreneurial, hard-working and empowered. He later moved on and started his own firm, Helios. Raising that first fund exclusively focused on Africa wasn't a walk in the park. "There was some benefit of just naivete, which helped to be honest, because I think a first time fund in a pretty niche market is either impossible or it's easy. There's no such thing as it's in the middle. It's either just it won't happen, or you might stumble into some blind luck, and then it happens." From telecom towers, undersea cables, oil and gas, fintech and more — there's so many to start for Tope where everything he touches seems to turn to gold. His company Helios was named the Firm of the Year for Africa by Private Equity International after winning it in the past consecutive years since 2016. It's amazing how substantial the capital they've raised for infrastructure investments. "There are many great things, and I think better about investing in Africa. We've pioneered and have been first in discovering many things. The economic infrastructure needs to exist at some point, and we have to build it now as opposed to buying it." Tune in to this new episode of the Walker Webcast — Invest In Success with Tope Lawani, Co-Founder & CEO of Helios Investment Partners.
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