Fellowship Spotlight: VOA Venture Partners
“My grandma was an entrepreneur in the 1970s and 80s,” says Victoria Olayide Adesanya, founder and managing partner of VOA Venture Partners. “She would get different products in the U.K. and go back to Nigeria to sell them, and she did so well. I always heard about how hardworking she was and how she was able to navigate the U.K. and Nigeria, and I just thought it was really impressive, especially for a time when things weren’t even efficient.”
Inspired by her grandmother’s entrepreneurship and international business savvy, combined with other elements of an international life, Victoria developed a deep interest in the flow of capital in and out of Africa. “When I look at where we are today,” she reflects, “things have evolved, but the systems still aren’t as efficient or connected as they could be. That’s the gap we’re determined to close.”
VOA Venture Partners
VOA Venture Partners is a $10M, U.S. based venture capital firm investing in founders from across the African Diaspora who are solving one of the most pressing challenges facing the continent of Africa: seamlessly moving capital in and out. “I think it’s not shocking to anyone that the whole purpose of what we’re trying to solve is the fact that Africa remains sidelined from the global economy,” Adesanya says with conviction. “The most foundational issue to solve is this issue.” And addressing it will be of great benefit, including to SMBs, which make up over 80% of all African businesses. “Most of these businesses are currently limited to their local area,” Adesanya shares. “We want them to be in a position where, similar to their Western peers, they can also participate in the global economy.”
In addition to being motivated by a need for progress and innovation, Adesanya also gains inspiration from a demographic that her father falls into: native Nigerians who lived abroad but have since returned to their country of origin. “People are returning,” she shares, “and they’re thinking about ways they can contribute to the Continent. Whether they build their own business or take on a job, the efficiencies they had in the Western world aren’t what they see on the Continent, and that’s making things harder for them.”
A Far-Reaching Issue
Adesanya acknowledges that the focus of VOA Venture Partners might seem niche or narrow at first glance, but, as she says, “It’s a wider issue than that.” Africa comprises over 54 countries that all have their own systems and regulations, and many transactions across the Continent take place in cash, which means the informal economy has to be considered in addition to transactions that go through banks. With all of this in mind, the firm is looking at five particular buckets of solutions to invest in, seeking companies that are working on any one of the following:
Solving market fragmentation and structural inefficiencies
Fixing a technological or infrastructure gap
Streamlining regulatory or compliance challenges
Increasing the financial inclusion on the continent or taking into account informal economy dynamics
Lowering risks of fraud or violations of cybersecurity
To identify these five focus areas, Adesanya undertook extensive independent research, drawing on data and insights from leading sources such as McKinsey, the World Bank, and IMF reports. “My goal was to understand, from first principles, what truly drives the inefficiencies in capital movement between Africa and the rest of the world,” she explains. “If we were to achieve the same level of efficiency seen in the UK or the US, what structural barriers would we need to address?” Through this analysis, she distilled a set of recurring themes — the core barriers that, if solved, could meaningfully transform how capital flows in and out of the continent. Building on that foundation, VOA Venture Partners operates as a research-driven firm, committed not only to investing in solutions but also to contributing to the broader data ecosystem shaping Africa’s future.
Defining the African Diaspora
Adesanya’s understanding of the African Diaspora is informed by her experience as a British Nigerian living in the U.S. She’s grown aware of the high concentration of people with African roots, particularly in countries like the U.K., U.S., and Canada, who are uniquely positioned to drive innovation connected to the continent. With VOA Venture Partners, she’s looking primarily at founders within these populations who are actively living outside of the Continent, as well as those who’ve done so in the past and whose networks and lives are shaped by that experience.
“The whole idea is that these people have had the global experience and still have ties back home,” she explains. This dual consciousness of life on the Continent and life in other countries lends a particular kind of awareness of the complexity and uniqueness of these challenges. “They know what it’s like in terms of having the inefficiency from a financial infrastructure lens in the Western world, and they also understand Africa’s realities and what is needed there, too. People in this position are motivated not only to make money from the problem via short-term solutions, but to build lasting change.”
This lived duality is not just theoretical. VOA Venture Partners’ research indicates that over 65% of African tech companies are led by at least one founder with a diaspora connection — individuals who have lived, worked, or studied abroad and whose global exposure informs how they solve local problems.
Getting Started in the World of Finance
Adesanya began her undergraduate studies in Finance, Accounting, and Management at University of Nottingham on the heels of the financial crisis of the late 2000s. “It was becoming increasingly clear what roles people held in banking and how much they were earning,” she shares, “and at the same time, we were at a point where there still wasn’t that many women involved in the sector.” Her curiosity about the world of finance combined with the fact that she wasn’t seeing a lot of women represented, moved Adesanya to action. “Why not start a women in finance society?,” she thought. “We can support ourselves. We can get sponsorships from some of these banks and maybe they can help us with assessments and practice questions and such.”
This savvy approach to addressing inequities stayed with Adesanya beyond her time in school. She began her career at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management during the period when the firm held a majority stake in the African bank, Absa. This made it clear to Adesanya that Barclays had a growing interest in Africa, one that was beneficial to both the bank and its clients.
To explore the drivers behind this trend, she launched the Barclays Africa Forum. “I would invite a panel of people either from the Continent or building for the Continent, and it would be a themed topic. It was great for me because I was learning firsthand what was going on on the Continent.” She built strong partnerships with organizations like Chatham House, making Barclays Africa Forum even more of a success. “I saw how much innovation was going on in that space,” Adesanya shares, pointing to what kept her thinking about tech and finance in Africa even when she pivoted next to investment banking.
From the Trading Floor to the Startup World
Her move to Credit Suisse marked the next stage in understanding the global flow of capital – this time from the heart of the trading floor, selling derivative products. While the work was intellectually stimulating, it also exposed another kind of imbalance: representation. “There were two Black people on the equity trading floor,” she recalls.
Motivated by her desire for greater community at work, she encouraged her employer to recruit more aggressively for Black talent. “There was an initiative at the time with all the asset managers called #TalkAboutBlack,” Adesanya shares, referencing its creation in response to the fact that, out of roughly 1,000 portfolio managers in London, only 13 were Black. Beyond addressing that disparity, the initiative sought to drive genuine commitment to diversifying the industry, something Adesanya championed passionately, both to advance equity and to make her own workplace more inclusive.
When she found herself ready for a bit more of a challenge, Adesanya pivoted away from finance to form a startup advisory. “It was a good thing for me because it showed me that I didn’t want to work in a startup directly on the day to day,” she says, “but I loved the strategic and high-level thinking, which is where VC came in.” During this time, she was also part of multiple investment syndicates. “In most of these groups, I brought deals that had some form of Africa exposure to them,” she reflects, “and it felt like they would say, ‘Yeah, this looks really great,’ and then give us the runaround for a few months, without any real questions or issues, and then eventually say no without any clear reason why.” She saw patterns around deals being chosen that were associated with familiar universities and preferred geographies–Africa not among them. “I saw this as an opportunity.”
Making Waves in a Nascent Industry
Adesanya makes a direct connection between the history of colonialism on the Continent and the contemporary barriers to participation in the global market. “Post-independence,” she reflects, “Africa inherited a very fragmented financial landscape. What we’re focused on is building the infrastructure that makes it easier to move capital in and out of the continent. The more seamlessly global businesses can operate across Africa, the more jobs and economic growth we’ll unlock.”
She notes that limited understanding of the region often compounds these barriers. “You have an area people don’t understand and they’re shying away from promising companies. That means these founders are trying to raise funding, and some of them are doing incredible things, generating $100K+ ARR from $0, literally making something from nothing. These are excellent founders just looking for someone who believes in them.” Noticing this gap in the market is what led Adesanya to shape VOA in the ways that she has.
While the fund’s initial focus is on backing diaspora founders, Adesanya sees this as a strategic entry point, a way to build informed, data-driven insight into Africa’s markets. “We’re constantly learning while helping our portfolio companies,” she explains. “It’s not just about giving them money; it’s about building an ecosystem that deepens our understanding of the continent. That way, when we raise future funds, we’ll be able to invest directly in Africa with the on-the-ground knowledge, relationships, and track record to do it well.”
Tapping Into a Web of Inspiring Innovators
Her care is evident in VOA Venture Partners’ Bridging Borders With Africa, a series exploring the startups and structural shifts transforming the way capital flows across the African continent and beyond. Each piece in the series dives into one of five systemic challenges identified in VOA's Five-Pillar Framework and spotlights innovative, inspiring early-stage founders.
One such founder is Jonathan Katende of Lipaworld. “What I love is that what he’s doing is a bit more directed,” Adesanya shares, offering an example related to resolving uncertainty when family members send money internationally. “Instead of simply transferring cash, it’s done through a voucher backed by stablecoins. If your family member says, ‘I need to pay my electricity bill,’ you select their provider, and the voucher can only be redeemed for that specific service – so you know exactly what your money is going toward.” Katende has also gone a step further by integrating the informal economy. “If I’m in a rural area,” Adesanya explains, “these vouchers can be redeemed through informal agents as well. There aren’t many solutions that bridge both the formal and informal sides of the economy, and that’s what makes this approach so powerful.”
Another founder who’s attending to more than one side of things is Adeola Adedewe of Kredete, whose personal experience informed the focus of his company. “Ade spoke about moving to the U.S. for school and not having a credit card for many years, and paying for everything up front. The credit card penetration rate is just under 4% in Africa,” Adesanya points out. “What Ade is doing with Kredete is identifying the everyday spending needs of people who’ve relocated to the U.S., and using those transactions to help them build credit. What I really like is that he hasn’t only focused on the diaspora; he’s also thinking about people on the ground. He’s done incredible work, including acquiring a local bank and launching the first Visa stablecoin credit card for the continent.”
“People are doing really interesting things,” she says with excitement, “and I haven’t even touched the surface.”
Participating in the VC Include Fellowship
“From what I’d heard before participating, I already knew that the VC Include Fellowship was going to be great,” Adesanya says. “Looking back over the last 12 weeks, the program has given me so much confidence. Instead of trying to mold us into a standard model of venture capital, VCI focuses on the individual – helping you become your best self and ensuring your fund stands out by putting your unique experience at the center.”
“One of our speakers said it well, that if we thought we were ready before, we weren’t ready at all,” she recounts. “VCI got us ready by making us think deeply about every aspect of what we’re building. I’ve really been able to reflect on what makes the most sense for my fund and my approach.” Adesanya also points to her cohort peers as an asset of participating in the program. “It’s an incredible group of sincere, supportive people. There’s no sense of competition – VCI has helped each of us bring out our best selves, and that’s made us genuinely invested in one another’s success.”
Adesanya brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to her fund design. Her curiosity and deep engagement throughout the program underscored her commitment to building bridges and expanding access to capital in emerging markets. We, too, want to see all of our fellows succeed, and we’re eager to witness where Victoria takes her confidence, clarity, and conviction.
