Profit-making idea: Put your money in the basic necessities of life, says health-tech entrepreneur Adegoke Olubusi

In an uncertain world, where do you look for opportunities for investment? The answer to that question, coming from Nigerian health-tech entrepreneur Adegoke Olubusi, is simple: Focus on industries and sectors that are linked to the livelihoods of people.

Healthcare is one of those industries, and Olubusi has invested his time and effort into building a fast-growing health-tech company with co-founders Bolatito Ovia and Dimeji Sofowora. Helium Health, founded in 2016, provides products and solutions to take healthcare services and processes into the digital domain. The Lagos-based company recently concluded a round of fundraising, receiving $10 million from a string of investors, including Dubai-based venture firm Global Ventures and Singapore-based Asia Africa Investment and Consulting. Now it is rapidly expanding its capacity and employee contingent in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic as the demand for its products and services increase substantially.

People will always need healthcare, but they will also need to eat, educate themselves and use money or financial services to support their day-to-day activities.

Thus, says Olubusi, the three other sectors in Africa that offer opportunities for investment are agriculture, education and finance. “These are the components after healthcare that I think are most important.”

Olubusi also finds himself at the other end of the funding equation as managing partner for Magic Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco.

Magic Fund has provided seed capital as an angel investor to more than 50 startups in the last 24 months. The companies on the list definitely show interest and support for startups in the medical and health sector (Akido, Medumo and APPIA, for example). The finance sector is also well-represented with Payfazz, Novo and Oxygen. In agriculture and the food space Frubana and Move feature in Magic Fund’s investment portfolio.

Where Olubusi would definitely not put his money, is in something like oil. “I would steer clear of things that we are actively trying to get rid of. Things that are not renewable,” he advises.

He highlights the importance of focusing talent and problem-solving on sectors that need transformation. “If you have a sector that smart, young people are not spending their time and effort on to solve problems, you are in trouble,” he says.


Further reading

[May 2020] Nigerian health-tech entrepreneur believes the sector’s untapped potential is ‘incredible’
[May 2020] A mix between serviced apartments and a hotel: Nigerian talks about his hospitality business
[April 2020] Producing beverages in West Africa: Indian-born businessman reveals his success strategies
[April 2020] Rebecca Enonchong on doing business as a tech startup in French-speaking Africa
[April 2020] How this entrepreneur went where nobody goes to start dried fruit business in Mozambique