Kuramo Capital Secures Landmark Fund-of-Funds Mandate, Solidifying Position as Nigeria’s Premier Venture Capital Mobiliser
Nigeria’s development finance institution, the Bank of Industry Limited (BOI), has appointed Kuramo Capital Management as the fund manager for the DICE Fund of Funds. This significant vehicle is designed to channel a minimum of $170.6 million into Nigeria’s burgeoning technology and creative startup ecosystem. The agreement, formalised in Abuja on June 30 by BOI chief executive Olasupo Olusi and Kuramo founder Wale Adeosun, represents one of the most substantial government-backed venture capital commitments on the African continent to date.
The DICE Fund of Funds operates under the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) program, an initiative launched by the Nigerian government in 2023 with crucial support from the African Development Bank, the French development agency AFD, and the Islamic Development Bank. The Nigerian federal government has made an anchor commitment of $85.3 million. Kuramo Capital is now tasked with matching this contribution dollar-for-dollar by attracting private sector investment, thereby doubling the fund’s capital to its $170.6 million target.
This fund structure is strategically designed to address the inherent challenges of direct grant funding. The government’s contribution is structured as a junior tranche, absorbing the initial 30 percent of any potential losses. This risk-mitigation mechanism is intended to de-risk the investment for private capital providers, including pension funds, family offices, and foreign investors, encouraging their participation in what might otherwise be perceived as high-risk early-stage African ventures. The fund is targeting a net annual return of 20 percent and aims to achieve a 2.4x return on invested capital over its lifecycle, performance metrics that align with those of established venture funds across Africa.
Rather than directly investing in individual startups, the DICE Fund of Funds will allocate capital to a curated portfolio of smaller venture capital and micro-venture capital funds. These underlying funds will then be responsible for backing specific businesses. This approach is intended to facilitate a broader geographic distribution of capital, extending beyond the traditional hubs of Lagos and Abuja to encompass all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, a reach that has historically eluded much of Nigeria’s venture capital landscape.
This appointment marks a significant milestone for Kuramo Capital, underscoring its growing influence. It follows a similar mandate secured in July 2024, when the nonprofit Impact Investors Foundation named Kuramo manager of its Nigeria Wholesale Impact Investment Fund. This separate, naira-denominated vehicle has a $1 billion target and received initial backing of $50 million from the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. The acquisition of two major state-backed fund-of-funds mandates within a two-year period positions Kuramo Capital as the Nigerian government’s preferred manager for large-scale fund-of-funds operations, a distinction few African asset managers currently hold.
Founded in New York in 2010 by Wale Adeosun, Kuramo Capital has dedicated over a decade to establishing itself as a critical conduit between global capital markets and African private equity. The firm expanded its presence with offices in Nairobi in 2011 and Lagos in 2012. According to data from the firm and the industry body AVCA, Kuramo has facilitated the deployment of $3.5 billion into African private equity firms and businesses, anchoring over 15 funds and supporting more than 200 companies across approximately 30 countries. However, its regulatory filings indicate directly managed assets of $257.6 million as of December 2025, highlighting its core strength in mobilising third-party capital rather than deploying its own balance sheet. Wale Adeosun, a former chief investment officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and managing director at the MacArthur Foundation, was recognised as LP Person of the Year at the 2024 Private Equity Africa Awards.
A critical consideration for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers is the timeline for capital deployment. The iDICE initiative was announced in 2023 with pledges totalling $617.7 million. However, its first significant capital deployment, a $64 million commitment to Ventures Platform’s Pan African Fund II alongside the International Finance Corporation, British International Investment, Standard Bank of South Africa, and Proparco, only closed in November 2025. This represents a nearly three-year gap between the program’s announcement and the actual disbursement of funds. Nigerian officials have also introduced debt financing options through the BOI/iDICE Debt Fund and the IsDB Murabaha Debt Fund, providing startups with a broader range of financial instruments beyond pure equity.
For founders operating outside of Lagos and Abuja, the promise of the DICE Fund of Funds is clear: if Kuramo Capital can effectively identify credible underlying fund managers and expedite capital allocation, entrepreneurs in cities such as Kano, Enugu, or Port Harcourt could gain access to venture funding that has historically been concentrated in the nation’s major metropolitan areas. For private investors, the government’s loss-absorbing tranche offers a compelling incentive to enter a market that many still perceive as nascent and high-risk. On a broader economic level, this deal signifies a strategic shift in Nigeria, with the sovereign wealth fund, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), also forging a $50 million innovation partnership with Japan’s development agency JICA earlier this year, indicating the state’s evolving role as an active venture investor rather than a passive regulator.
The focus now shifts from contractual agreements to operational execution. Kuramo Capital will be benchmarked against its own recent track record, with a 12-to-24-month window to demonstrate that signed mandates in Abuja translate into tangible financial support reaching Nigerian founders more efficiently than has been observed in previous program rollouts.
