Kayode Ayeni is a passionate entrepreneur and investor with a wealth of experience in infrastructure, real estate development, power, oil & gas, venture capital and private equity.

He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Afridev Capital Partners (Afridev), a proprietary investment boutique. Kayode assembles investors and leads bids, negotiations, fundraises and the eventual execution of buyouts in the infrastructure space spanning oil and gas, power and real estate. He also plays board oversight and executive board roles in companies under Afridev’s management.

He is a Director and Co-founder of Nigeria’s Crestar Integrated Natural Resources Limited. He led the Afridev team to advise James Bay Resources Canada, Crestar’s financial and technical partner, to successful fundraise, financial close and commercial negotiations with Shell Petroleum Development Company in the divestment of its interest in OML 25 to Crestar for $453 million. He also serves as a Director with James Bay Energy Nigeria Limited..

Kayode put together and led a consortium, CALLS (comprising Caverton, Afridev, Lavayo Energy, Lamar and SEPCO 3) for a $330m bid for one of Nigeria’s National Independent Power Plants (NIPP’s) in Omoku; a combined cycle, gas–fired power plant under the divestment program of the Federal Government of Nigeria by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

Afridev’s portfolio of investments includes Zillenium, a Real Estate Infrastructure and Development Company. Zillenium is a fully integrated, end-to-end company with in-house capabilities to deliver projects from conception, design, planning, project management, funding and construction to sales.

  • Zillenium’s projects and brands include their housing initiative, “Green City”, a commercial office solution called “Smart Office” and green-field, large-scale markets and industrial parks. Kayode is a great believer in providing clean and renewable energy to Zillenium’s developments and serves as Chairman of the board.
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  • Prior to setting up Afridev, he led the ground breaking initiative of providing equity funding to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) as the pioneer Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of First Funds (now FBN Capital), the Venture Capital / Private Equity subsidiary of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
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  • His expertise and experience includes providing advisory leadership to Nigeria’s federal government privatization program as a World Bank / USAID consultant to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
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  • As a Fellow of the institute of Chartered Accountants, he trained under the globally recognized firm of Arthur Andersen, now known as KPMG Professional Services. He also has an exemplary educational background that includes an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London, an MBA from the University of Lagos along with a First Class (honors) degree in Accounting from the University of Ife.
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  • He is a mentor to numerous would be entrepreneurs and is a keen Angel Investor. In addition, he is building a non-profit organization to assist small to medium sized organizations learn the art of fund-raising. When Kayode is not involved with business or philanthropic endeavors, he is an avid motor sport enthusiast. His other leisure activities include swimming and boating.