Africa’s private capital leaders convened last week at the third annual Africa Prosperity Summit (APS), hosted by Ventures Platform, to chart the path for a new era of verifiable, scalable growth on the continent.
The Summit, which was held from November 12th to 14th, 2025, with the theme “Growing the Pie: Building the Pathways for Liquidity, Scale, and Enduring Returns”, the Summit provided a forum for investors, operators, and other ecosystem players to explore the dynamics shaping Africa’s next decade of capital formation and liquidity.
The three-day Summit attracted stakeholders from key markets, framing the urgency of establishing clear liquidity benchmarks.
Leading executives, including Temi Popoola GMD/CEO, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) Group Plc, Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of Moniepoint, Chirantan Patnaik, Director, Venture Capital at British Investment International, and Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22, engaged in high-level sessions that scrutinised the true mechanics of scale.
They also tackled systemic barriers to sustained liquidity, assessing policy, regulatory, and operational constraints, including FX restrictions and capital controls.
Kicking off the Summit, Kola Aina, Founding Partner at Ventures Platform, in his open remarks emphasised that Africa stands at a pivotal moment where liquidity (not just capital), is the defining lever for scale.
He noted that closing the continent’s liquidity gap, which is driven by limited exit pathways and underdeveloped acquisition and listing markets, requires building acquisition-ready companies, deepening corporate participation in exits, strengthening listing readiness, and innovating Africa-specific liquidity mechanisms capable of driving long-term, continent-wide prosperity.
In a keynote address, Chirantan Patnaik provided a data-driven analysis of capital flows across Africa’s innovation ecosystem, detailing who is deploying capital, what LPs are seeking, and how fund managers must adapt.
By benchmarking Africa against Latin America and India, he drew parallels in market maturation, exit pathways, and fund dynamics, positioning Africa’s current challenges within a proven global growth curve.
His insights framed ongoing discussions on DPI, sustainability, and institutional readiness throughout the Summit.
Dotun Olowoporoku, managing partner at Ventures Platform, commented on the significance of the Summit,
“We started the Africa Prosperity Summit three years ago not just to host another conversation, but to build alignment around what truly drives growth on the continent. And as this year’s convening showed, unlocking liquidity and scale will require collaboration and trusted intelligence across the ecosystem. The next frontier for Africa will not only be about attracting capital, but also about earning it through transparency, resilience, and consistent performance. We remain committed to providing the platform for these conversations to thrive and drive results.”
Discussions extended beyond conventional equity, exploring venture debt, blended finance, and revenue-based financing as viable instruments for enabling African companies to achieve cross-border scale.
A recurring theme was the need for an authoritative measure of exit performance to inform sustainable investment and policymaking.
Participants also highlighted the importance of harnessing local capital as investment pipelines, strengthening talent management and operational infrastructure, and building robust exit strategies, all critical components for scaling startups and businesses successfully across the continent.
In a fireside chat titled “The Road to a Billion: Raising, Scaling, and Building Trust at Scale”, Dotun Olowoporoku and Tosin Eniolorunda shared insights on what it takes to scale African companies to billion-dollar valuations.
Both industry leaders agreed that sustainable growth in Africa requires a balance of ambition and discipline – combining bold vision with rigorous operational execution, building ecosystems of trust, and leveraging local insights to create businesses that are profitable, resilient, and scalable across borders.
Highlighting the importance of data in investment decisions, the Summit also saw the official launch of the first-ever African Exit Index, presented by Michael Famoroti, head of Research at Stears, Africa’s leading financial data provider.
The Index, a continuously updated, publicly accessible resource, aims to benchmark exit performance and provide investors and policymakers with actionable insights for strategic deployment.
Africa Prosperity Summit, now in its consecutive third year, has continued to serve as the essential platform for translating high-level conversations into the actionable strategies and trusted intelligence required for scalable, long-term prosperity.
This year’s edition was proudly sponsored by G. Elias, Aluko & Oyebode, Iron Capital, and Google for Startups Accelerator Africa. In line with its ecosystem-driven approach, this year’s summit was curated in collaboration with several ecosystem leaders, including AVCA, Algebra Ventures, Miva University, Novastar, Wimbart, 7 Generations Institute, and TLP Advisory.
