July 06, (THEWILL) — Unlike most blue-chip companies that started in highbrow business districts capitalised from deep pockets, Afrinvest (West Africa) had a humble start – a story passionately narrated by the Group Managing Director, Ike Chioke, whose vision resulted in creating a leading investment house that has elevated the country’s financial services industry to global spotlight.
During a chat in Lagos recently, the investment banker traced the history of the company to his garage as soon as he returned to Nigeria in 2003. Sam Diala captures the highlights:
Afrinvest and the London, continental links
You will recall that Afrinvest London had trading relationships across 10 sub-Saharan African countries outside of South Africa. It had a broker dealer in each of Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, etc, and, of course, Nigeria, its biggest market, where the broker dealer was Securities Transaction & Trust Company Limited (Sectrust), founded by Godwin Obaseki, who later became governor of Edo State.
I worked in Afrinvest London for a while and ultimately decided to set up the franchise in Nigeria. Afrinvest Nigeria became Afrinvest Securities, a subsidiary of Sectrust in 2006, and Sectrust changed its name to Afrinvest West Africa that same year.
How the idea of Afrinvest started
I studied in the United Kingdom and left in 1991 for the United States, upon completion of my studies, to work with Goldman Sachs one of the top investment banks in Wall Street. Several years later, I returned to the UK to work for another investment bank and afterwards, returned to Nigeria.
Around 1995, I began to realise that, ultimately, I needed to go back to Nigeria. I had the opportunity of being in America, as I had a green card. But when I extrapolated my future and the lifestyle of the vice-president or managing director I aspired to become, I thought to myself, well, it’s interesting, but money doesn’t really motivate me that much, though I work in an investment banker. That’s somewhat a paradox.
But I said I wanted to learn investment banking, and I think I needed to step out of Goldman Sachs and learn how to advise smaller companies. That was when I decided to look at Smith Barney, because it had a respected technology banking franchise on the west coast of America, in San Francisco.
This dream pushed me to move to San Francisco in the mid-90s to deal with startups, such as AOL but ultimately ended up in London in 1998 following a series of mergers that created Salomon Smith Barney the previous year.
Placing the origin of Afrinvest
I wish to clarify that I am not the original founder of Afrinvest. The original founder of Afrinvest is a friend of mine, Philip Iheanacho.
Philip and I had met in 1993 or 1994 in New York when he was working for McKinsey. He then left McKinsey years later and set up Afrinvest. I joined him in London in 2002 bringing to the firm my investment banking expertise. Afrinvest, was an equities trading business, buying and selling listed shares between emerging market investors in London that wanted to trade in Africa.
The garage dimension of Afrinvest’s coming
In 2004, I established Afrinvest Nigeria; guess what, in the garage of my house in Maitama, Abuja. That’s how we started, very humbly. Today, we have become one of the top investment banking franchises, with many operating businesses, and nearly 200 professional staff across five offices.
On the soft side
I met my wife, Yvonne, a Dutch national before I returned. I met her on a deal in Kenya while working for Salomon Smith Barney, and it was she who then found a transaction that brought me to Nigeria. She was mandated by a Nigerian group called Investors International London Limited, headed by Chief Bode Akindele, of blessed memory. Akindele was a very wealthy Nigerian, and he wanted to take over NITEL. In that process, I got involved in the transaction and got much more exposed to Nigeria’s investment banking opportunity, and then used the chances that came to move ourselves back to Abuja in 2003.
Editorial Note
Afrinvest has built the reputation of publishing its annual Banking Reports which highlights the key areas of impact in the Nigerian economy. In its 2025 report, entitled ‘Beyond Rhetoric’, the firm focused on the recapitalisation of Deposit Money Banks and the path to Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy goal. The report discusses the impact of global economic risks and domestic policy reforms on the banking sector and highlights the importance of recapitalization to support economic growth.
Here’s are the main highlights:
Recapitalization:
The report emphasizes the critical role of banking sector recapitalization in achieving Nigeria’s ambition of a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Economic Growth:
Afrinvest anticipates a modest recovery in 2025, with the banking sector expected to remain firm despite capital-raising activities.
Agriculture, oil & gas, consumer goods, industrial goods, banking, and telecommunications are identified as key sectors poised to boost the Nigerian economy.
Global and Domestic Factors:
The report analyses the impact of global economic risks and domestic policy reforms on the banking sector and Nigerians in general.
Reform Implementation:
A key message is the need for the government to translate reform rhetoric into tangible outcomes, as further delays could be detrimental.
Specific Concerns:
The report also touches on issues like Nigeria’s debt servicing costs, which have exceeded the pro-rata budget, and the need to address challenges like insecurity and flooding.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
