Ventures Platform Champions Liquidity Pathways at Africa Prosperity Summit as Investors Push for Scalable Growth

Africa’s leading private capital stakeholders gathered last week for the third annual Africa Prosperity Summit (APS), hosted by Ventures Platform, to accelerate a new era of verifiable and scalable growth across the continent. Held from 12 to 14 November 2025, the Summit—centred on the theme “Growing the Pie: Building the Pathways for Liquidity, Scale, and Enduring Returns”—brought together investors, operators, and policymakers to examine the forces shaping Africa’s next decade of capital formation and liquidity.

The three-day convening drew participants from major African and global markets, underscoring the pressing need to establish clear liquidity benchmarks. Senior executives—including Temi Popoola, GMD/CEO of Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) Group Plc; Tosin Eniolorunda, CEO of Moniepoint; Chirantan Patnaik, Director of Venture Capital at British International Investment; and Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22—led robust discussions on the realities of scaling African ventures. Their sessions addressed structural barriers to sustainable liquidity, with particular focus on regulatory constraints such as FX restrictions and capital controls.

Opening the Summit, Kola Aina, Founding Partner at Ventures Platform, stressed that Africa is entering a defining period in which liquidity—rather than capital alone—holds the key to meaningful scale. He noted that closing the continent’s liquidity gap, driven by limited exit pathways and underdeveloped acquisition and listing markets, will require building acquisition-ready companies, increasing corporate participation in exits, boosting listing readiness, and designing Africa-specific liquidity mechanisms to fuel long-term prosperity.

In his keynote, Chirantan Patnaik delivered a data-rich analysis of capital flows into Africa’s innovation ecosystem, examining investor behaviour, LP expectations, and the evolving role of fund managers. Drawing comparisons with Latin America and India, he positioned Africa’s current liquidity challenges within a broader global growth trajectory marked by maturing markets and expanding exit options. His address set the tone for wider Summit conversations on DPI, institutional readiness, and sustainable returns.

Reflecting on the purpose and impact of APS, Dotun Olowoporoku, Managing Partner at Ventures Platform, said: “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.”

Sessions throughout the event delved into complementary capital instruments—including venture debt, blended finance, and revenue-based financing—seen as critical for supporting African companies in achieving cross-border scale. Delegates repeatedly emphasised the need for an authoritative measure of exit performance to inform sustainable investment, guide policymaking, and strengthen local capital mobilisation. Talent management, operational excellence, and robust exit strategies were also spotlighted as essential to building resilient and scalable businesses across the continent.

A fireside chat titled “The Road to a Billion: Raising, Scaling, and Building Trust at Scale” featured Dotun Olowoporoku and Tosin Eniolorunda, who shared practical insights on building African ventures capable of reaching billion-dollar valuations. They agreed that Africa’s pathway to sustainable growth demands a blend of ambition and discipline—anchored in strong execution, trust-driven ecosystems, and deep local insight.

The Summit also marked the unveiling of the continent’s first African Exit Index, presented by Michael Famoroti, Head of Research at Stears. This continuously updated and publicly accessible data tool aims to benchmark exit performance across Africa and provide policymakers and investors with actionable intelligence for strategic decision-making.

Now in its third consecutive year, the Africa Prosperity Summit continues to cement its role as a pivotal platform for transforming high-level discourse into actionable frameworks that support scalable, long-term growth across Africa. This year’s edition was sponsored by G. Elias, Aluko & Oyebode, Iron Capital, and Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, and curated in collaboration with key ecosystem partners including AVCA, Algebra Ventures, Miva University, Novastar, Wimbart, 7 Generations Institute, and TLP Advisory.