After a decade-long professional career in institutional private equity in the United States and then in South Africa, she created her private equity firm to support African tech firms with regional and global exposure.
Samantha Pokroy (photo) is a South African finance professional and founder/CEO of Sanari Capital, a private equity firm founded in 2013. Through her private equity firm, she invests in African tech firms with regional and global exposure.
“After many years working with founder-run businesses, and coming from an entrepreneurial family / being an entrepreneur myself, I understand a founder’s perspective when considering various growth, funding, ownership, and wealth realization choices. Combined with experience from leading private equity houses, we offer high-quality private equity solutions customized for the needs of the founder- and family-run businesses. Solutions cater to the needs of companies at various stages of growth and development, as well as the differing needs of the founders,” her LinkedIn about section reads.
On September 8, 2022, Samantha announced the first close, at ZAR475 million (about US$27 million) of Sanari 3S Growth, Sanari Capital’s third fund that targets between ZAR1.2bn to 1.7bn ( about US$70-100 million) to “invest in established and growing companies in industries.”
Currently, Samantha Pokroy is a director on the board of the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA). She is also a member of the boards of tech companies Edulife, LightWare, Sensor Networks, and Snapt which secured investments from Sanari Capital.
Before venturing into entrepreneurship with Sanari Capital, she acquired years of professional experience, which began in 1999. That year, she joined the independent strategy consulting group Stern Stewart & Co as an associate analyst. In 2003, she worked as a summer associate in JP Morgan’s financial sponsors group. Two years later, she was appointed vice-president of investment banking firm Kipp Reese Koldyke (now Winona Capital). Then from 2006 to 2013, she worked as a principal for Ethos Private Equity.
Melchior Koba
