March Roundup: Celebrating Women’s History Month 2025
Last month, we celebrated Women’s History Month by spotlighting five remarkable leaders shaping the future of private capital in Africa.
Our ‘Bold Voices, Bold Moves’ campaign highlighted women across the ecosystem who are driving innovation, advocating for gender equality and creating sustainable impact through diverse investment strategies.
Meet the Leaders
Annemarie (Andy) van Duijn — Head of Private Equity Funds, FMO
Andy leads FMO’s Private Equity funds & co-investment business, managing a portfolio exceeding EUR1bn. She advocates for increased capital flows into African markets, emphasising that “the longer-term outlook is still one of potential despite geopolitical uncertainty.”
For us at FMO, working on reducing inequalities, and specifically also gender equality and DEI initiatives, lies at the heart of our work. Not just because we think it makes sense from a business and value creation perspective, but also because we feel it is simply the right thing to do.
Laura Davis — Co-CEO, Renew Capital
With over 20 years’ experience in Africa, Laura co-founded Renew Capital Angels, a global network of investors committed to backing African SMEs. Laura embeds gender-smart policies across Renew Capital’s portfolio, treating it “not as a program, but as a core part of how you invest and operate.”
At Renew Capital, we’re not afraid to enter overlooked markets and back founders who are outliers. That willingness to go where others don’t has opened doors, surfaced extraordinary talent, and we hope will help shape ecosystems from the ground up.
Fatoumata BA — Founder & Executive Chair, Janngo Capital
A tech entrepreneur and VC investor, Fatoumata founded Janngo Capital to back “tech for good” champions. Her commitment to gender equity is unwavering, with over 50% of Janngo’s portfolio supporting women entrepreneurs.
Women are not just part of the solution — they are the solution. Africa cannot afford to overlook its most powerful engine of progress. Investing in women means investing in resilient, inclusive growth with the potential to unlock up to US$42bn in GDP.
Dina el-Shenoufy — Partner, Flat6Labs
Dina drives investment strategy at Flat6Labs, the leading startup accelerator in MENA. Her bold career move was increasing seed investment values to attract more mature founders into the ecosystem, raising standards across the region.
The African continent is at a stage that does not allow it to ignore gender equity and more specifically female integration into the workforce to maximise its overall economic gains as developing economies are still quite nascent.
Eva Warigia — Associate Director, Investor Relations, New Forests
Leading investor relations for New Forests’ African Forestry Impact Platform, Eva is pioneering sustainable forestry investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, working in a less traditional asset class for African private capital.
Working in forestry investing, I’ve really enjoyed learning about this area and the Africa opportunity to create a sustainable timber processing industry that supplies ethically sourced wood products for the continent and export markets, while solving for climate change.
