PODCAST | Tariye Gbadegesin: Building sustainable African infrastructure projects

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In this episode of African Business podcast we are joined by leading development finance expert Tariye Gbadegesin, MD and Chief Investment Officer at ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund, a leading pan-African fund that is one of Africa’s largest investors in infrastructure development. We talk to Gbadegesin about her career to date, priorities and initiatives at ARM-Harith, and about a sustainable pathway for Africa’s development.

ARM-Harith’s specialist knowledge is firmly focused on building impactful African infrastructure projects that balance the pursuit of profit with creating lasting value for investors, stakeholders, communities and the environment.

Set up in 2013, ARM-Harith closed its first fund in 2015 as the first Infrastructure Equity Fund to be registered by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (under the commission’s then newly released infrastructure fund rules). ARM-Harith manages capital from Nigerian pension funds, development finance institutions, family offices and commitments from ARM and Harith.

Gbadegesin is an investment professional with 20 years of experience in financial services, and more than $3bn of transaction experience. Before ARM-Harith, she delivered investments of over $800m into West Africa’s power, transport, and telecommunications sectors in her four-year role as co-founder and head of industrial and telecommunications infrastructure at the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

Her contributions to infrastructure development have recently earned her a position on the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) advisory council in Washington, DC. She is a member of the UNDP Working Group for Insurance-based Financial Instruments to support Climate Finance. She has also recently been appointed to both the UN PRI advisory committee and the UN technical working group on finance and investment.