The management team of TLcom can count on over 50 years of VC expertise, and 80+ years of previous relevant innovation, business development, financing and technology experience throughout Europe, Israel, Silicon Valley, and Sub Saharan Africa. By combining investment resources in Nairobi and Lagos with London and Silicon Valley based professionals the team grants access to global industry network, financing and exit opportunities.

Founder and Managing Partner
Maurizio Caio

Maurizio Caio is the Founder and Managing Partner of TLcom Capital LLP where he has been focusing on mobile technologies and services, web enabled services and GDP verticals, broadband network infrastructure, and applications of ICT to SMEs since the firm’s foundation in 1999. His current board positions include companies in the mobile, broadband, digital media and silicon space in Europe, the US and Africa. He is currently based in Nairobi and works frequently in Silicon Valley and London.

Maurizio cooperates with the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED) and their Accra and Nairobi based innovation centers, is on the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Office in London, and is an advisor of the GSMA Mobile for Development initiative.

He is the chairman of the TIDE Foundation, a non for profit organization focused on improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sub Saharan Africa.

Prior to TLcom, Maurizio was a founding partner of Bain & Company in Italy and a Director of Bain & Company, leading the firm’s European TMT practice, and serving clients from the firm’s European and San Francisco offices. Previously, he was with McKinsey & Company in Europe, focusing on technology and growth strategy. Before founding TLcom, he spent 15 years advising CEOs and senior management of European and Silicon Valley telecommunications and technology companies on strategy, operations, commercial development, strategic partnerships, and merger and acquisitions. Maurizio also served as Deputy Chairman of an international cooperation NGO working with local communities in Central America, East Africa and South East Asia, with a focus on social entrepreneurship and income generating programs. He is the Chairman of the TIDE Foundation.

Maurizio has a Summa cum Laude Laurea degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan and New York University, and an MBA from Stanford University. He served as a Teaching and Research Fellow in Strategic Planning and Control at Bocconi University and as an instructor of Information Technology for MBA students while at Stanford.


Partner
Omobola Johnson

Omobola Johnson is a Senior Partner of TLcom Capital LLP.

Before joining TLcom, Omobola was  Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the  Nigerian  technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Prior to serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries, transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations.

Omobola serves on the Board of a number of leading Nigerian and multi-national corporations  and is the  Chairperson, Alliance for Affordable Internet (Worldwide Web Foundation),  a Trustee of the World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative and   Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Management and Business;

Omobola has a Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester; a Master’s in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the School of Management of Cranfield University.

 
Partner
Ido Sum

Ido Sum is a Partner with board seats including mobile and internet companies in Europe, Israel and Africa. Ido proactively mentors African start-ups in association with local incubators. He cooperates with the Stanford SEED initiative in West Africa.

Prior to TLcom, Ido was the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Airlines WiMAX Communication, an East Africa based mobile broadband operator. Prior to founding Airlines, Ido led a consulting business focused on web start-ups and web-incubators in Israel. He also worked as Business Development Manager at TMT – Israel’s largest interactive television company. During his studies, Ido interned at Qualcomm, focusing on its emerging markets strategy looking at Africa and the Middle East. He is a Lieutenant (res.) in the IDF intelligence corps.

Ido has been involved in social entrepreneurship for over 15 years, founding 3 NGOs including NOVA, Israel’s largest strategic consulting service to the social service, which he Co-Chairs. He won the GSVC (Global Social Venture Competition) with the re:Moition team in 2010, and came 2nd on the Hult Global Challenge 2011 (world’s largest business case competition) with HydeRate – an innovative solution for water financing in developing markets – where he is active to date.

Ido holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BSc in industrial engineering from Tel Aviv University.


Partner
Andreata Muforo

Andreata Muforo is a Partner based in Nairobi. She is engaged in local partnerships with entrepreneurs, accelerators and incubators for mentoring and deal flow generation. Andreata has extensive transaction structuring and corporate finance experience. She has worked on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and capital raising mandates for projects across Africa and has a strong network among entrepreneurs and financiers in East Africa. Andreata cooperates with the innovation center of the Stanford SEED initiative in West and East Africa.

Prior to joining TLcom, Andreata was a transaction Manager at Horizon Africa Capital Ltd, a boutique M&A firm, in Nairobi, Kenya. While at Horizon, she structured and advised on complex M&A, and capital raising transactions in the greater East African region. She covered a range of sectors including ICT, financial services, manufacturing, real estate, and fast moving consumer goods. Andreata also worked as an Investment Officer in the private sector department of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunisia where she participated in the structuring of project finance transactions and evaluated the AfDB’s investments into private equity funds. Also while at the AfDB, Andreata worked directly with President Kaberuka and his Advisors to support them on issues of corporate and strategic significance to the Bank.

Andreata holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Economics from Grinnell College in Iowa, USA.

 
Operating Partner
Mauro Pretolani

Mauro Pretolani focuses on value generation from the existing portfolio in the mobile and digital media technologies and services. He is currently on the board of mobile and internet companies in Europe and is part of the Executive Team at a European and US mobile company in the TLcom portfolio on a part time basis. Mauro also leads a number of Direct Secondary investments. While at TLcom, Mauro was CEO and Chairman of the Board at CommProve.

Previously, Mauro was a Manager in Bain & Company’s TMT practice,. Before joining Bain, he worked in the Marketing and Treasury departments of Procter & Gamble in Greece and Italy.

Mauro holds a Summa cum Laude Laurea Degree in Business Administration from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Advisory Board

TLcom can count on active Fund Advisory Boards including private equity professionals, entrepreneurs and technology leaders as well as representatives of the Fund limited partners. The Boards support the investment committee of the TLcom primary funds and our investees, to build stronger relationships with relevant players in the tech ecosystem and facilitate access to intermediaries and buyers for exit.

Advisory Board Member
James Hoch
Jim cofounded Tailwind Capital, a mid-market private equity firm investing in technology, financial services, consumer and business services in 2003, following nearly two decades at Morgan Stanley and its private equity affiliate, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, where he was a Managing Director, led the firm’s European activities, and was a member of the investment committee. He is a graduate of Williams College and of the Harvard Business School.

Advisory Board Member
Patrick Awuah
Patrick grew up in Accra, Ghana and attended Swarthmore College in the US where he graduated in Engineering and Economics. He worked as a software engineer and program manager for Microsoft for eight years. He then gained an MBA from UC Berkeley and moved back Ghana to found Ashesi University. Ashesi welcomed its first class of students in 2002 and offers degrees in Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Patrick continues to serve as the president of Ashesi. He was awarded a MacArthur fellowship in 2015.

Advisory Board Member
Ashish Patel
Ashish has more than 20 years of experience in strategy, operations and investment and heads the Abraaj Performance Acceleration Group for Sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining The Abraaj Group, he was Head of Strategy, Emerging Markets and Corporate Development at AVG Technologies and served as a Board Member. Previously, he was Managing Director at Intel Capital responsible for all their activities in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and has worked with Actis as an Investment Director. Ashish qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. He graduated in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.