Funke Okubadejo has spent more than three decades building a reputation as one of Nigeria’s most seasoned real assets investors, combining institutional discipline with long-cycle capital strategy.
Her career spans assurance, private equity, and large-scale real estate fund management, culminating in her current role as Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Grene Capital Management Nigeria Limited.
With a background spanning engineering, finance, and private capital deployment, Okubadejo has emerged as a central figure in Nigeria’s institutional real estate market, particularly in the segment focused on stabilised, income-producing assets backed by pension capital.
Career Foundations: From Audit to Private Equity
Okubadejo began her professional career at Arthur Andersen, where she rose to the level of Manager in Assurance, covering consumer markets, telecommunications, and manufacturing. The role provided rigorous grounding in financial controls, reporting standards, and corporate governance — competencies that would later underpin her investment oversight philosophy.
Okubadejo holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from University of Lagos.
She subsequently joined African Capital Alliance as Vice President, gaining direct exposure to private equity deal structuring, portfolio management, and institutional capital deployment in Nigeria’s early private capital ecosystem.
Actis Years: Scaling Institutional Real Estate
In 2007, Okubadejo joined Actis, one of the world’s leading growth markets investors. Over an 18-year tenure, she rose through the ranks from Investment Principal to Director, Real Estate, and ultimately Managing Director, Real Estate and Head of Income Fund.
At Actis, she led the strategy focused on stabilized, institutional-grade real estate assets designed to generate predictable income streams. Under her leadership, the platform invested in landmark properties including Jabi Lake Mall in Abuja and Heritage Place, a Grade A office tower in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Her approach emphasized disciplined asset selection, professional asset management, and capital preservation, priorities aligned with the needs of long-term institutional investors such as pension funds.
Grene Capital Spin-Off
Okubadejo recently led the management buyout that resulted in the spinout of Grene Capital from Actis, marking a significant transition in Nigeria’s real estate private equity landscape.
Grene Capital emerged as an independent, Africa-focused real asset fund manager, established to invest in stabilized, income-generating real estate offering institutional investors steady, predictable cash flows and a hedge against inflation.
The firm currently manages a closed-end real estate fund with approximately US$82 million in assets under management. The capital, raised primarily from Nigerian pension funds, remains invested in Jabi Lake Mall and Heritage Place.
Commenting on the transition, Okubadejo stated: “This transition strengthens our ability to operate as a fully independent Africa focused real asset investment manager while maintaining continuity for our investors and partners.
“Our focus remains on disciplined asset selection, active asset management and delivering stable, inflation hedged cash flows and attractive risk adjusted returns from high-quality assets in key gateway cities in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.”
The spinout followed Actis’ strategic refocus of its real estate investment strategy toward Asia and its expansion into digital infrastructure across Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Actis continues to maintain an active presence in infrastructure and energy investments across Africa.
Investment Philosophy
Okubadejo’s investment philosophy is defined by institutional rigor, capital preservation, and income stability. Her focus on stabilized assets rather than speculative development reflects a deliberate alignment with pension-backed capital seeking inflation protection and predictable yield in a volatile macroeconomic environment.
With Grene Capital now independent, she stands at the forefront of a new generation of Africa-based fund managers assuming ownership of platforms previously housed within global firms.
