Insights
Note from the founder
I spent most of my career in New York, in investment banking, hedge fund management, wealth management and private capital markets. Over those years I watched the same pattern repeat.
An investor would become interested in Africa, ask sensible questions, and get very few reliable answers. Who are these managers? What is this business really earning? What happens to this loan if the currency falls twenty percent, or if an election goes badly? The interest was real. The information to support it wasn't there.
At the same time, I was seeing the other side. Founders and operators in Nairobi, Kigali and Lagos were building serious businesses: lenders, logistics companies, energy providers, farms that had grown into platforms. Many of them needed capital that matched what they actually do, such as debt structured around their assets and cash flows, rather than equity priced as if every risk were the worst case. Good companies were going underfunded, and good capital was sitting on the sidelines, for the same reason. Nobody was standing in the middle doing the slow, local work of making each side understandable to the other.
That is the problem Rama Sycamore exists to solve.
We are not a research subscription, and we are not a fund. We work on your side of the table. We don't invest our own capital, so our only stake in a transaction is that it is done well. Our job is to find opportunities worth underwriting, verify them on the ground, structure them so they hold up, and present them honestly to the investors they suit. Sometimes the most useful thing we can tell a client is that a deal isn't right for them. We would rather say that than fill a pipeline.
I divide my time between New York and Nairobi, because this work needs both. New York is where most of our clients and their investment committees sit. Nairobi is where the deals are, and in these markets there is no substitute for being in the room. Trust is built over time, across the table, through people who know each other. That is why our Nairobi team brings in strategic partners who have spent years building those relationships. You cannot do this from a desk in Manhattan alone. I know, because I tried.
Our vision is simple to state and hard to achieve: to make African private markets as investable as any other, with clear information, sound structures and capital that fits the businesses it backs. If we do our part well, more of the world's capital will reach the companies building this continent's economies, on terms that work for both sides.
Thank you for reading. If you are thinking about Africa, we would be glad to talk to you.
Questions and Answers
What does Rama Sycamore actually do?
We’re a niche alternative investments strategy and transaction advisory firm. We help global capital find, evaluate, and act on opportunities in Africa’s private markets, across four areas: venture capital, private equity and buyouts, private credit, and distressed or special situations investing. Put simply, if you allocate capital and want real exposure to African companies and credit, not just a research report about them, we find the opportunities, verify them on the ground, and help you think through how they fit your broader strategy.
Who exactly are your clients? “Institutional investors” is a bit vague.
Fair enough. Here’s the specific list. We work with venture capital funds looking for African tech and growth-stage exposure; private equity and buyout funds pursuing control or growth-equity stakes in established businesses; private credit funds and specialty lenders financing trade, receivables, or asset-backed transactions; and distressed debt and special situations funds targeting restructurings and non-performing credit. We also work with family offices building direct or fund-of-funds exposure to the region, and with development finance institutions and sovereign-linked investors whose mandates include African private markets.
On the other side of the table, we work with founders and management teams raising capital who want a firm that understands what institutional investors expect, not just a local network of contacts.
I run a venture capital fund. What does working with you look like in practice?
We track seed through Series C activity across East, West, and Southern Africa, with our deepest coverage in fintech, agritech, logistics, healthtech, and climate and energy access. We bring you rounds that match your check size and stage before they’re widely shopped. For a VC fund without a permanent presence in the region, we effectively act as your local scouting and diligence team: verifying founder backgrounds, checking the metrics in a data room against what we can confirm independently, and giving you a candid read on whether a round is sensibly priced for the market.
I run a private equity or buyout fund. Is there enough deal flow at that scale in Africa?
More than most people assume, and it tends to be less competitive than comparable deals in developed markets. We source growth-equity and control transactions in consumer businesses, financial services, manufacturing, and infrastructure-adjacent companies.
Many are family-owned or founder-led businesses facing a succession or in need of growth capital. Because these deals rarely go through a formal, competitive process, relationships and timing matter a great deal. That’s the advantage our on-the-ground presence gives a fund based outside the region.
I manage a private credit fund or specialty lending vehicle. What’s the opportunity for us specifically?
A significant one. As bank lending in several African markets has tightened under stricter capital requirements, a real financing gap has opened up in trade finance, invoice and receivables financing, and asset-backed lending. That’s exactly the kind of structured credit private credit funds are built to provide. We source these opportunities, help underwrite the local credit risk, and can support you through the life of the facility with local monitoring. In these markets, credit risk often depends as much on relationships and market knowledge as it does on financial ratios.
I run a distressed debt or special situations fund. Can you actually get us access to these situations, or is that mostly relationship-driven and hard to access from outside?
It’s almost entirely relationship-driven, which is why outside funds struggle to get access, and why we exist. Distressed and special situations opportunities in Africa, such as stressed sovereign-linked credit, restructurings, and non-performing loan portfolios coming off bank balance sheets, are rarely marketed publicly. Getting a seat at the table depends on who you know in-country: bank workout teams, restructuring counsel, regulators, and the companies themselves. Our team’s background in special situations advisory, combined with a presence on the ground, is what gets a fund like yours into those rooms.
Do you work with family offices, or is your business mostly built around large funds?
Family offices are actually one of our most active client segments. Many are looking at African exposure for the first time and want a partner who can help them understand the landscape, evaluate direct deals or fund commitments, and avoid the mistakes that come from underestimating the market. We size engagements to fit. A family office doesn’t need the same retainer as a large institutional credit fund to get real value from working with us.
Do you work with DFIs and development finance institutions?
Yes, and those relationships matter to us beyond the revenue. DFIs are often the earliest and most sophisticated capital in a given African market, and their networks, co-investment relationships, and risk assessments carry real weight. We support DFIs with independent market intelligence, deal screening, and diligence capacity. We also rely on our own DFI relationships as a source of deal flow, and of credibility when we introduce other clients to a market.
I’m a founder or CEO raising capital. Can Rama Sycamore actually help me, or are you only built to serve investors?
We can. We’d encourage founders to think of us as a capital allocation resource, not just a research firm that happens to cover their sector. Because we work closely with venture, growth-equity, private equity, and private credit investors who are actively looking at African opportunities, we’re often in a position to make a direct, credible introduction. Not a cold email, but a warm one from a firm the investor already trusts. If you’re raising and think there’s a fit with our investor network, let’s talk.
What does “global macro strategy advisory” mean, and is that something you actually offer?
Yes, and it’s a growing part of our work, particularly for clients making country or regional allocation decisions rather than evaluating a single transaction. It means helping a fund or family office work through questions like these. Which African markets offer the most attractive risk-adjusted entry points right now, given currency trends, sovereign debt dynamics, and commodity cycles? How is a shift in U.S. or European monetary policy likely to affect capital flows into frontier markets? How should you sequence entry across several countries rather than concentrating in one? It’s strategic thinking that sits above any individual deal.
What does your special situations advisory actually involve, beyond sourcing distressed deals?
Sourcing is one piece of it. We also advise clients who already hold a position (a loan, a bond, or an equity stake) that has moved into distress, and help them think through their options: participating in a restructuring, exiting through a secondary sale, or working with other creditors in a workout. This draws directly on our New York team’s background in special situations and distressed credit, applied to the legal, regulatory, and relationship dynamics of African restructurings, which differ meaningfully from what a U.S.-based team is used to.
Can you help us decide which African countries or regions to prioritize, not just which deals to look at?
That’s exactly what our macro advisory work is built around. We combine on-the-ground intelligence on regulatory trends, currency stability, political risk, and local capital market depth with a broader view of global capital flows, commodity cycles, and monetary policy. The goal is to help clients build a country-sequencing strategy instead of approaching the region opportunistically. A number of our clients start with this kind of strategic conversation well before they look at a specific deal.
Why did you choose to focus your flagship operations in Nairobi rather than somewhere else?
Nairobi is one of the most active hubs for private capital in Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s strong in fintech and technology investment, well connected to East Africa’s banking and legal infrastructure, and home to a deep pool of investment professionals who’ve worked at banks, private equity firms, and DFIs. It gives us a real base of operations rather than a satellite office. From there, we extend into other markets through local partners in Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg, and Cairo.
Your African operations are new. Why should I trust you with something this specialized?
Because the firm behind the Nairobi build-out isn’t new. Our New York team had an established track record advising institutional clients on alternative credit and special situations well before we decided to build out African operations. We didn’t start from zero, learning the advisory business and the region at the same time. What’s new is the geography. The underwriting discipline, the credit and diligence frameworks, and the institutional reporting standards our clients expect all come from an established practice.
If your Africa team is still growing, what can I actually rely on from your New York side?
More than you might expect. Our New York team stays directly involved in structuring engagements, reviewing diligence output against institutional standards, and supporting clients on macro and special situations advisory, where deep experience in credit cycles and distressed investing carries over regardless of geography. In practice, a client working with our Nairobi team on a specific transaction still has New York’s judgment and quality control behind every deliverable. You’re not relying only on a newly built regional office.
How is Rama Sycamore different from a research firm or a data subscription service like PitchBook or Preqin?
Data platforms are built on information that’s already public or has been reported to them. That works well in markets with strong disclosure standards, but much less well in Africa, where many of the most interesting deals never appear in any database. We’re not aggregating other people’s information. We generate our own, through people who are physically present and sitting across the table from founders, business owners, and lenders. Think of us less as a subscription and more as your own research and sourcing team, already established in the region.
How is Rama Sycamore different from a traditional placement agent or investment bank?
A placement agent typically works one side of a transaction, helping a company or fund raise money, and gets paid mainly when a deal closes. We do that too, but it’s only part of what we offer. We also provide market intelligence, ground-level due diligence, global macro and special situations advisory, and continuous pipeline visibility, whether or not a specific deal is in progress. The relationship isn’t purely transactional. It’s meant to be useful to you all the time, not just at closing.
What exactly do you mean by “deal sourcing”?
It means we go out and find investment opportunities that match what a specific client is looking for, whether that’s a sector, an investment size, a company stage, or a type of transaction, and we bring them to you, often before they’re formally marketed to anyone else. Rather than sending a generic list, we’re constantly filtering for what’s relevant to your mandate, whether you’re a venture fund, a buyout shop, or a credit desk.
What does “due diligence” involve, and why can’t I just have my own team do it remotely?
Due diligence is the process of verifying that a company, fund, or borrower is what it claims to be: checking financials, confirming management backgrounds, visiting facilities, and talking to people who’ve done business with them. Some of that can be done from a desk anywhere in the world. A lot of it can’t. You can’t confirm a factory exists and is operating without visiting it, and you can’t get an honest read on a management team’s reputation without talking to people in their own business community, in person and in their own language. That’s the part we handle.
What is “distressed asset” investing, and why would anyone want to invest in companies that are struggling?
A distressed asset is a company, loan, or bond in financial trouble, whether it’s behind on payments, in default, or going through a restructuring. That often means it can be bought for well below its underlying value. Investors who specialize in this space aren’t betting on the company failing. They’re betting that with the right capital, restructuring, or management change, the value can be recovered, sometimes at a substantial return. It’s a specialized, higher-risk part of the market, and it depends heavily on local relationships and legal knowledge, which is where we add value.
What’s the practical difference between venture capital, private equity, and private credit, for someone newer to these terms?
Venture capital funds back early-stage, high-growth companies in exchange for equity. They accept that most individual bets will fail in return for a few outsized winners. Private equity and buyout funds typically invest in more established, profitable businesses, often taking a controlling or significant stake to actively grow or improve the company. Private credit means lending money rather than owning equity. Your return comes from interest and repayment of principal, generally with lower risk and lower upside than an equity investment. Distressed and special situations investing can involve either debt or equity, but always in a company or credit that’s already under financial stress.
How do you get paid? Do I pay you even if I never invest in anything you show me?
It depends on the service. Our market intelligence and deal-flow subscriptions are paid regardless of whether a specific deal happens; you’re paying for ongoing access and visibility. Our deal-sourcing service combines a smaller monthly retainer with a success fee that applies only when a transaction we introduced actually closes. Advisory work on macro strategy or special situations is usually billed as a project or retainer engagement, scoped to the question at hand. So the short answer: for research, strategy, and pipeline visibility, yes, you pay regardless of outcome. For active deal sourcing, most of what you pay is tied to results.
Is there a minimum amount I need to be planning to invest to work with you?
We don’t publish a hard minimum, because it depends on the service and the type of client. A family office exploring the market through our intelligence subscription doesn’t need a large deployment budget yet. Active deal sourcing works best for funds and family offices with a real, ongoing capacity to deploy capital in the region, whether that’s a venture fund writing $250K checks or a credit fund underwriting $10M facilities. Otherwise, the retainer isn’t a good use of anyone’s money. We’d rather have that conversation directly than set an arbitrary number.
How do I know the opportunities you bring me are trustworthy, and not just deals nobody else wanted?
It’s a fair question, and a common one in this market. Every opportunity we bring to a client has been through an initial screening on our end. We don’t forward everything that crosses our desk. We’re also selective about which deals go to which client, based on their mandate, whether that’s a venture thesis, a buyout mandate, or a credit strategy, rather than shopping the same opportunity around to everyone. And because a meaningful share of our revenue depends on deals closing well, we have a direct financial interest in bringing you things worth your time, not padding a pipeline report.
What happens if I sign up for a service and it turns out not to be a good fit?
Our subscription and retainer agreements include a notice period to end the engagement, generally 60 days, instead of long, inflexible contracts. If a service isn’t delivering value, we’d much rather know early and adjust than have a client quietly drift away. Relationships in this business are built on repeat trust, not one-time contracts, so that flexibility matters to us as much as it does to you.
How current is the information you provide? Markets like this change quickly.
Our research is produced on a rolling basis, not compiled once and left to age. Sector, country, and macro strategy notes are updated at least quarterly, with additional updates whenever something material happens: a regulatory change, a currency move, a significant transaction, or a shift in global monetary policy that affects frontier market flows. Because we’re in the market rather than reading about it from abroad, we usually know about developments as they happen, not after they’ve been reported elsewhere.
What are the biggest risks of investing in African private markets that I should know about going in?
Currency risk, political and regulatory risk, and liquidity risk are all real, and none of them should be played down. Currencies in several African markets can move sharply, which affects returns once they’re converted back to dollars. Regulations can change, sometimes with little notice. And private investments in these markets are generally harder to exit quickly than public market investments elsewhere. Part of our job, including through our macro advisory work, is to give you a realistic, unvarnished picture of these risks for any specific opportunity or market, not to gloss over them to close a deal.
How do you handle situations where two of your clients might be interested in the same deal?
We have a written conflicts-of-interest policy that covers exactly this. In general, allocation is agreed with clients up front as part of the engagement, and we’re transparent when an opportunity is being shown to more than one party. That includes different investor types, such as a venture fund and a growth-equity fund that might both be interested in the same later-stage round. We’d rather lose a single transaction than lose a client’s trust by mishandling a conflict. Repeat relationships are the foundation of this business.
Is my information and any deal data I share with you kept confidential?
Yes. Every engagement is covered by confidentiality terms in our service agreement, and deal-specific information is protected by non-disclosure agreements before it’s shared further. Access to sensitive due diligence files is limited to the people working directly on that engagement.
How do I get started, and what does a first conversation with you actually look like?
There’s no formal application process. A first conversation is usually a straightforward discussion about what you’re trying to accomplish, whether that’s sourcing venture deals, building a buyout pipeline, deploying private credit, evaluating a special situation, or working through country-level macro strategy. We’ll then give you an honest assessment of whether and how we can help. Most relationships start with a smaller, lower-commitment engagement, like a market intelligence subscription or a single due diligence project, before moving into a broader sourcing or advisory relationship. You can reach us through the contact details on our website to set that up.
Have a question that isn’t covered here? Get in touch. We’re happy to talk through anything specific to your mandate or situation.