GHANA – African private equity fund manager, CardinalStone Capital Advisers (CCA), has appointed Shirley Somuah as a Partner, as it strengthens its presence in Ghana with a new office opening in Accra in Q2.
The move is CCA’s first physical presence in Ghana and will support the fund manager’s current portfolio, as well as deepen relationships with entrepreneurs in the country.
Somuah joins current Partners Yomi Jemibewon and Femi Ogunjimi, as the company takes an important additional step toward institutionalization by strengthening its leadership bench.
Shirley has over a decade of experience spanning management consulting and investing and has been integral to the firm’s activities in both Nigeria and Ghana during her tenure at CCA.
Since CCA’s inception in 2016, she has been part of the investment team managing the US$64m CCA Growth Fund (CCAGF), which targets growth-stage SMEs in Nigeria and Ghana.
CCA Growth Fund has made four investments to date and portfolio companies include i-Fitness, Quality Foods Africa, and Afya Care.
The fund also made its first institutional investment into fintech in 2021, leading on the US$10M series A round for Nigerian fintech software provider, Appzone.
The CCA team is now looking to double down on leveraging and embedding innovative technologies for its real sector portfolio companies, as it looks to see how tech can help these businesses scale and improve operational efficiencies while also creating tangible impact.
Speaking on her new role as Partner at CCA, Shirley Somuah said, “This new role is incredibly exciting for me, and I am thrilled to be joining Yomi and Femi as a Partner at CCA.”
“I am passionate about transformational impact at scale and look forward to working with more growth-stage companies in the coming years,” added Somuah.
According to Shirley CCA has one of the more gender-balanced leadership teams with 30%of partners and 30% of the overall leadership being women.
Prior to CCA, Shirley was a Vice President on the Principal Investments team at CardinalStone Partners.
She also served as a management consultant with Oliver Wyman, serving clients in North America, the Middle East, and Africa from the New York and Dubai offices.
She holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BSc. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. She chairs the Board of the non-profit West Africa Vocational Education.
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