Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital Management, one of the few growth equity and gender lens funds in Africa closing gender gaps across society. She has more than 15 years of investment banking and private equity experience in developed and emerging markets from global institutions.

Adesuwa spent 5 years as Managing Partner of Syntaxis Capital Africa, a provider of growth capital to SMEs in Nigeria and across Sub Saharan Africa. At Syntaxis Africa, she led transactions totalling more than $200 million across SSA. Prior to co-founding Syntaxis Africa in 2014, Adesuwa was in the Leveraged Finance and M&A teams at J.P. Morgan in London, where she was involved in $6 billion worth of transactions across emerging markets including Nigeria.

She was named as an Agent of Impact in 2019 by Impact Alpha, recognised as one of the Top 35 Women Moving Africa Forward in 2020. In 2021, she was named as one of the Top 100 global leaders combining profit and purpose by Meaningful Business. In 2022 & 2023, Adesuwa was named as one of Top 100 African leaders under the age of 40 by the Institut Choiseul, set to play a major role in the economic development of the African continent and also recognized as one of the Top 50 Inspiring Women in Nigeria by BusinessDay. In 2023, Adesuwa won the 2X Global award for the Woman Fund Manager of the Year. She has also received national recognition from the Executive Governor of Lagos state, as one of the 150 Eko Aspire women for her contribution towards achieving gender equity and nation building. She was named as one of the Top 40 under 40 Black Women in Asset Management, named as one of the 50 impactful women driving business by Empower Africa, and was named as one of the 100 most inspiring women by Leading Ladies Africa. With Aruwa Capital’s $20 million Fund, Adesuwa is the only female GP in Nigeria to raise over $10 million in a first fund.

She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol. She currently sits on several boards in Nigeria across healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture renewable energy and hospitality sectors. She is married with children and enjoys travelling, tennis and cooking.