Combining organizational discipline and long-cycle capital strategies, Mr. Funke Okubadejo has spent over 30 years building a reputation as one of Nigeria’s most experienced real estate investors.
Her career spans assurance, private equity and large real estate fund management, and she currently serves as Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Grene Capital Management Nigeria Limited.
With a background spanning engineering, finance and private capital deployment, Mr. Okubadejo has emerged as a key player in Nigeria’s institutional real estate market, particularly with a focus on stable income generating assets backed by pension capital.
Career Foundation: From Audit to Private Equity
Mr. Okubadejo began his professional career at Arthur Andersen and rose to the level of Assurance Manager with responsibility for consumer markets, telecommunications and manufacturing. This role provided a rigorous foundation in financial management, reporting standards and corporate governance. These abilities would later underpin her investment supervision philosophy.
Mr. Okubadejo holds a Master’s degree in Finance from London Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree from London Business School. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos.
He then joined African Capital Alliance as Vice President, where he was directly involved in structuring private equity transactions, portfolio management, and deploying institutional capital in Nigeria’s nascent private capital ecosystem.
Year of Actis: Expanding institutional real estate
In 2007, Okubadejo joined Actis, one of the world’s leading growth market investors. During her 18-year tenure, she rose through the ranks from Investment Principal to Director of Real Estate and ultimately Managing Director of Real Estate and Head of Income Funds.
At Actis, he led a strategy focused on stable institutional real estate assets designed to generate predictable revenue streams. Under her leadership, the platform has invested in landmark properties such as 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, with priorities tailored to the needs of long-term institutional investors such as pension funds.
Spin-off of Grene Capital
Mr. Okubadejo recently led a management buyout that resulted in the spin-out of Graine Capital from Actis, marking a major shift in the real estate private equity landscape in Nigeria.
Grain Capital was born as an independent Africa-focused real estate fund manager established to invest in stable income-producing real estate that provides institutional investors with stable, predictable cash flows and a hedge against inflation.
The company currently manages closed-end real estate funds with approximately US$82 million in assets under management. This capital was primarily raised from Nigerian pension funds and continues to be invested in Jabi Lake Mall and Heritage Place.
Mr. Okubadejo commented on the transition as follows: “This transition strengthens our ability to operate as a fully independent real estate investment manager focused on Africa, while maintaining continuity for our investors and partners.
“We remain focused 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 spin-out follows Actis’ strategic refocus of its real estate investment strategy for Asia and 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 stable assets rather than speculative developments reflects a deliberate alignment with Pension Backed Capital, which seeks inflation protection and predictable yields in a volatile macroeconomic environment.
Now that Gräne Capital is independent, she is at the forefront of a new generation of Africa-based fund managers, taking over ownership of a platform that was previously housed within a global company.
