Ama Diallo is the founder and Managing Partner of Dakar Capital Partners, a pan-African growth equity fund with operational hubs in Dakar, Lagos, and Accra. Born in Dakar, Senegal, she was educated at Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics, where she wrote her doctoral thesis on sovereign debt restructuring and private capital formation in frontier markets.
After graduating, she returned to West Africa in 1998 to join the African Development Bank as an investment analyst. Over the next twelve years, she rose to Lead Economist for the Private Sector Development division, structuring over $600 million in sovereign and private-sector transactions across 14 African nations. That decade-plus at the AfDB gave her an unparalleled understanding of regulatory environments, currency risk, and what makes businesses genuinely sustainable in frontier markets.
She founded Dakar Capital Partners in 2012 with seed capital from a consortium of European development finance institutions. Fund I deployed $62M across 14 companies in 7 countries. Fund II, now at $118M, expanded into East Africa and deepened her healthcare and agritech focus. Her investment philosophy is rooted in one conviction: durable businesses in African markets require structural infrastructure and local management, not just capital.
Ama is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Africa Business Council, sits on the boards of three portfolio companies, and is a frequent speaker at AfricaInvest, African Development Bank Annual Meetings, and the Mo Ibrahim Forum. She is widely regarded as one of the most rigorous and respected growth equity investors on the continent.
“Capital without context is noise. The best investments in Africa come from people who understand the soil they are planting in.”
— Ama DialloBA, Political Economy — Sciences Po Paris, 1994
MSc, Development Economics — London School of Economics, 1996
PhD, International Finance — LSE, 2000
Founded with development finance seed capital. Fund I ($62M) deployed across 14 companies in 7 countries. Fund II ($118M) now active across 9 countries with expanded East Africa presence and healthcare depth.
Structured $600M+ in sovereign and private-sector transactions across 14 African nations. Led the AfDB’s SME financing strategy for West Africa and developed frameworks for private equity co-investment with development finance institutions.
Joined the AfDB directly from doctoral studies to work on frontier market debt structuring. Rapidly promoted to senior roles based on rigorous quantitative analysis and deep regional language and cultural fluency.
PhD research on sovereign debt restructuring and private capital formation in frontier markets. Thesis cited over 200 times in academic and policy literature across Sub-Saharan African finance and development economics.
Notable investments made through Dakar Capital Partners Fund I and Fund II.
| Company | Year | Country | Sector | Stage | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AgroMali | 2014 | Mali / Burkina Faso | Agritech | Series A | Active — $8M ARR |
| CliniqPlus | 2016 | Nigeria | Healthcare Services | Series A | Active — 38 Clinics |
| LastMile Logistics | 2015 | Ghana | Logistics / E-commerce | Series B | Exited 2023 — 3.1x |
| SolarGrid Senegal | 2017 | Senegal | Clean Energy | Growth Equity | Active — 12,000 Installs |
| TelemediCare | 2019 | Kenya / Rwanda / Uganda | Health Tech | Series A | Active |
| GrainStore Africa | 2020 | Regional (4 Countries) | Agritech / Post-Harvest | Series A | Active — $3M ARR |
| Paysika | 2021 | Senegal / Ivory Coast | Fintech / Payments | Seed / Series A | Active |
| FreshRoutes | 2022 | Nigeria / Ghana | Cold Chain Logistics | Series A | Active |
Digital crop-insurance and input-financing platform serving 40,000+ smallholder farmers. Reduces weather-related income loss through parametric insurance products calibrated to local conditions.
Network of 38 standardised diagnostic clinics in tier-2 Nigerian cities, addressing the diagnostic infrastructure gap outside Lagos and Abuja. Serving 200,000+ patients annually.
Tech-enabled last-mile delivery platform for e-commerce and FMCG brands across Greater Accra and Kumasi. Successfully exited in 2023 at a 3.1x return, the fund’s strongest exit to date.
Off-grid solar installation and pay-as-you-go financing for rural households and SMEs without national grid access. 12,000+ installations across four Senegalese regions.
Telemedicine platform connecting urban specialists with rural primary care workers across Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Active in 380 rural health facilities across three countries.
Cross-border payment and merchant services platform for West African SMEs. Processes WAEMU-region transactions with embedded FX and compliance tools for cross-border commerce.
No fund manager in London can operate a business in Kano or Tamale. Dakar Capital only invests where there is a qualified, deeply embedded local management team who owns the culture of the market.
Sustainable African businesses need reliable infrastructure first — logistics, payment rails, and power. Ama prioritises foundational layers over top-line growth in early-stage evaluation.
Every deal is structured to account for local currency exposure. Dollar returns require dollar-linked revenue streams or natural hedges. Currency risk is the most underestimated risk in African private equity.
Dakar Capital measures success on two scorecards: financial returns and development outcomes. Both must trend upward for an investment to be considered successful by the fund’s own standards.
The fund does not try to cover every sector. Deep expertise in agritech, healthcare, and logistics allows more rigorous due diligence and more valuable post-investment support than a generalist approach would allow.
African businesses operate on longer timelines than Western investors expect. Ama structures five-to-seven year hold periods deliberately, giving founders the runway to build through market cycles without forced exits.
Doctoral thesis at LSE, cited 200+ times in academic and policy literature on Sub-Saharan African development finance. Forms the intellectual foundation of Dakar Capital’s currency risk framework.
Policy paper co-authored with the World Bank and IFC on the structural barriers preventing African SMEs from reaching Series B and beyond. Widely distributed at Davos and the AU Summit.
Keynote speaker on the case for growth equity in frontier markets. Her “capital without context is noise” framing has become widely quoted across the African investment community.
Annual panellist on the Private Sector Development track. Member of the WEF Africa Business Council since 2017, contributing to policy frameworks on SME financing and digital financial inclusion.
Regular expert contributor on African private equity, agritech investment, and the macroeconomic outlook for West Africa. Reaches an estimated 45M listeners weekly through BBC World Service.
Founding member of the IFC’s West Africa agritech advisory panel. Helps set standards for impact measurement and deal structuring for food-system investments across the region.
Recognised for sustained excellence in growth equity investment and her leadership in building African capital market infrastructure over two decades.
Awarded for Dakar Capital’s dual mandate approach and measurable development outcomes generated alongside financial returns across Fund I and II.
Elected fellow for foundational contributions to the development of private equity frameworks suited to African frontier and emerging markets.
Selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the most influential leaders under 40 driving transformative change in emerging markets.
All introductions are managed through Shark Tank Group. Submit a funding application and our advisory team will assess Africa-market fit before making a formal introduction to Dakar Capital’s team.
africa@sharktankgroup.com
+221 33 555-0100
dakarcapital.com
@Amadiallo (LinkedIn · X)