Sustainable Financial and Human Capital for Africa
Bringing proven private equity, operational & business building expertise to Sub-Saharan Africa & helping African companies & entrepreneurs realise their long term potential.
Surya Capital is a principal investment firm that provides growth capital with operational expertise to entrepreneurs building highly scalable companies. We are sector agnostic but focus on companies that can benefit from rapid growth through digitisation
Our Approach
Make direct investments or co-investments with like-minded investment firms
Provide tailored capital solutions to entrepreneurs building category leaders leveraging the digital revolution taking place across multiple sectors in Africa
Focus on highly scalable businesses that can growth through disruption, operating expertise and digital enabling.
Mobilise high quality and relevant human capital from other Emerging Markets in addition to leveraging our networks in Developed Market
Embed sustainability, ethics, governance, diversity and inclusion in everything we do
Our Mission is Three-Fold
Create partnerships that combine financial capital with enabling human capital and deep industry expertise
Deliver returns through Surya’s active ownership and operational improvements over time
Produce highly attractive financial returns and make a material positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (‘SDGs’)
Material Positive Contributions to the SDGs
Sustainability Focus
Social Contribution
Benefiting the societies in which our portfolio companies operate and leaving a lasting positive legacy.
Environmental Contribution
Contributing to the urgent need for decarbonisation in Africa.
Economic Contribution
Assesses quantity and quality of jobs provided, Enhancing skills and productive capacity, generating employment and foreign exchange.
Operational Contribution
Positively influencing our portfolio companies so that they adopt best global practices in their operations and governance.
Founders and Leadership Team
Surya’s leadership team has built a strong, complementary partnership through four years of collaborative deal-making in Africa
The Surya team blends strong private equity track record in emerging markets with business building experience.
4
Investment professionals
35
Years of EM investment experience
2.4x
Attributable cash-on-cash returns
>$300m
Mid term equity investment target into East Africa
Riaz Currimjee
CEO
Built Surya Capital into an Africa-focused principal investment firm
20+ years of financial and entrepreneurial expertise
Active shareholder and non-executive director of Currimjee Jewanjee & Co. (130-year old Mauritian conglomerate) – currimjee.com
Strong family connection to Africa through the Karimjee family in Tanzania, one of the oldest business houses in East Africa
Investment Banker at Lazard
Qualified Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen
BSc. Finance, Boston College
Ashwin Roy
CIO
Over 20 years Emerging Markets PE experience
Partner and Co-Head for Central and Eastern Europe for CVCI, a Citigroup-affiliated Emerging Markets private equity firm with c. $8bn of assets under management
Director of Private Equity for the sovereign wealth fund of Oman
Deployed over $700m of capital in emerging markets private equity, generating c. 2.4x cash-on-cash realised returns
Qualified as a UK Chartered Accountant with PWC London; Fellow of the ICAEW
MA Economics (First Class) from King’s College, University of Cambridge
Complementary Skillsets
Deep Local Networks
Proven Track Record
Non-Executive Partners
Private equity veterans contribute deal-making, investment and management experience to inform Surya’s investment decisions and build Surya’s investment and operational processes
Christopher Wright
Non-Executive Partner
Director, Merifin Capital, a European family office and advisor to several other European family offices
Non-Executive Partner of investment firms including Yimei Capital, GP Investimentos, The Fine Art Fund and Kestrel Partners
Formerly Global Head of Private Equity and management board member Dresdner Kleinwort
Global Head of Private Equity, Standard Bank
MA and Foundation Fellow, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford
Sunil Nair
Non-Executive Partner
CVCI Managing Partner and Head for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India; Investment & Management Committees
Fixed Income Derivatives Structuring, Salomon Smith Barney
Consultant, McKinsey & Company
MBA, Yale University, Academic Excellence Award for Best Student; MS in Economics, Scuola Superiore EM Milan; Masters in Commerce and Gold Medalist, University of Madras
Get in touch
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Our Office
Surya Capital Partners, 1st Floor, The Exchange, 18 Cybercity, Ebene, Mauritius
