Level One
Connect
Relationships as foundation: Join the WAI Group WhatsApp Community, participate in WAI City Circles (in‑person gatherings) or access smart connections.
ABOUT WAI GROUP
Advancing the African
investment ecosystem, together.
A trusted community of senior women investors working to integrate women’s priorities into how capital is designed, governed, and deployed across Africa.
300+
MEMBERS
22
CITIES
2017
FOUNDED
$6B+
AUM
OUR STORY
Why WAI exists and why it still matters.
Founded in 2017, the network emerged from a simple observation: senior women working in African investment were isolated. The Women in African Investments (WAI) Group was created to make women fund managers visible, hold the industry accountable and combat inequalities in access to capital.
WAI was not built as a project or business. It was built as an impact network.
Today, WAI has 300+ members across every African region, and brings together professionals from across the ecosystem from development finance institutes and compatible investment models (the “Red Circle”) to funds and vehicles considered incompatible with traditional institutional funding (the “Green House”).
Our focus areas include supporting women‑led, Africa‑domiciled funds; mobilising local‑currency capital; and collaborating with peer networks working to drive systemic change at the frontier of finance.
THE FOUNDER
“The story I want members to understand is WAI's purpose and their connection to it.”
Elizabeth Howard
Founder, WAI Group | Lelapa | African Crowdfunding Association
Elizabeth is an entrepreneur and the founder of Lelapa. In 2015 she co-founded LelapaFund, an equity crowdfunding platform focused on East Africa. Lelapa Fund's regulatory challenges led her to establish the African Crowdfunding Association (ACfA), helping shape the regulatory agenda for the continent's emerging crowdfunding ecosystem.
She founded WAI Group to address what she observed directly: senior women in African investment with significant influence and expertise, operating without a trusted peer network. WAI became the infrastructure for that trust.
Prior to that, she worked in academia and private sector in risk management and financial economics. Elizabeth holds several Board member and Advisory Board member positions in the industry and is a Council Member of Advancing Women in Investing (AWI).
Elizabeth is a dual citizen of South Africa and France.
OUR PURPOSE
To drive systemic change in equitable capital allocation in Africa.
WAI is a relationship-based community of women investors. We build pathways for capital to reach women investors and entrepreneurs across Africa by integrating women’s priorities into investment systems.
We seek to change the norms, narratives and mindsets that have historically limited capital flows to women investment leaders and women-owned businesses.
Together, we are working toward a future where African women investors are proportionately represented, institutional capital reaches small and growing businesses more equitably, and policy outcomes support a more inclusive capital‑market system.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Five principles that govern how we show up for each other.
Principle 01
Connection
“Build trust. Assume positive intent.”
01
We come to this network not as transactional agents but as people who believe in each other's capacity. Trust is built slowly and honoured carefully. We give it freely, and we do not squander it.
Membership in the WAI Group is an agreement to embody these principles - not perfectly, but with intention and care.
THREE LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION
How our members contribute to systems change.
WAI is a relationship‑centred network where participation starts with connecting with peers to collaborating in ways that shape the investment ecosystem. By building relationships and contributing within the community, members collectively influence norms, fund design, and policy outcomes to reflect women's priorities.Participation is not linear or fixed. Members move between levels as capacity and context allow.
Level One
Connect
Relationships as foundation: Join the WAI Group WhatsApp Community, participate in WAI City Circles (in‑person gatherings) or access smart connections.
Level Two
Collaborate
Participate in, or host, WAI At The Edges (virtual exchanges to deepen collective learning). Broadcast surveys, participate in collective sensemaking, or contribute to shared learning and reports.
Level Three
Change the System
Become a Systems Change Partner or mobilise the WAI Group as a collective voice to influence fund design, shape regulations, and shift industry norms. This is where collective effort translates into durable systems change.
Members based across 25+ countries in Africa and beyond
- Established presence (21+ members)
- Growing presence (6 - 20 members)
- Emerging presence (1 - 5 members)
- No members yet
- LagosAccraAbidjanDakarBamakoOuagadougouLoméCotonouMonroviaFreetownConakryBanjul
- NairobiKampalaDar es SalaamKigaliAddis AbabaBujumbura
- JohannesburgCape TownGaboroneWindhoekMaputoLusakaHarare
- CairoTunisCasablancaAlgiersRabat
- KinshasaLibrevilleYaoundéBrazzaville
- LondonParisNew YorkWashington D.C.TorontoBrusselsGenevaAmsterdamBerlin
Johannesburg
Abidjan
Nigeria
Botswana
Kenya
Mauritius
Tanzania
Namibia
Ghana
Cote d’ivoire
Togo
Burundi
Mali
Johannesburg
Abidjan
Nigeria
Botswana
Kenya
Mauritius
Tanzania
Namibia
Ghana
Cote d’ivoire
Togo
Burundi
Mali
Johannesburg
Abidjan
Nigeria
Botswana
Kenya
Mauritius
Tanzania
Namibia
Ghana
Cote d’ivoire
Togo
Burundi
Mali
GALLERY
The community in action
WAI members at dinners, conferences, and gatherings across Africa. Real relationships. Candid conversations. Shared purpose.
Join WAI. Be part of reshaping how the system works.
Membership reflects a shared commitment, with tiered annual fees. Applications are reviewed to ensure alignment with our community and WAI’s purpose.
APPLY TO BE A MEMBER