Helios Investment Partners, the UK-based private equity firm, is scaling up its ambitions in Africa’s creative industries with a new $75m fund dedicated to sports and entertainment. The fund, managed by its specialist arm Helios Sports and Entertainment Group (HSEG), recently secured a significant $50m equity commitment from development finance institutions, signalling growing investor confidence in a sector projected to exceed $20bn in annual revenue by 2035.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will invest up to $30m, while Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), has committed up to $20m. The capital is earmarked for building an integrated ecosystem across sports IP, media rights, live events, and the physical infrastructure required to support them.
This new fund builds directly on the legacy of one of Helios’s most high-profile deals: the 2021 formation of NBA Africa. That transaction, which valued the entity at $1bn, saw Helios lead an investment consortium to help drive the expansion of the National Basketball Association’s presence on the continent, including the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Tope Lawani, co-founder of Helios and Managing Partner of HSEG, now sits on the NBA Africa board, and the firm aims to replicate that model of pairing international brands with local expertise and capital.
“At Helios Sports and Entertainment Group, we are constantly presented with attractive opportunities driven by Africa’s richness of talent and increasingly sought-after content,” Lawani said in a statement. “It is a privilege to receive support from reputable institutions showing true conviction in both the African creative economy and our ability to deliver.”
From Blueprint to Bricks-and-Mortar
The latest tangible evidence of HSEG’s sports and entertainment strategy is the recently opened Zaria Court in Kigali, Rwanda. The $26m mixed-use development is the inaugural project from Zaria Group, a portfolio company co-founded by Toronto Raptors President and NBA Champion Masai Ujiri, in partnership with HSEG.
Located next to Kigali’s BK Arena, the complex is designed as a “venue-centered ecosystem,” featuring an 80-room boutique hotel, event spaces, a podcast studio, restaurants, and public sports facilities. The project, which aims to create over 500 jobs, is a blueprint for similar developments planned in other major African cities by 2030.
“What we’ve accomplished here in Kigali proves that Africa’s development potential is extraordinary when you combine vision with the right investment approach,” explained Andrew Feinstein, Managing Director and Partner of Zaria Group. “This venue-centered ecosystem model creates authentic value — real jobs, real opportunities, real community impact. And this is just the beginning.”
The launch event drew high-profile figures including Rwandan President Paul Kagame and businessman Aliko Dangote, underscoring the project’s blend of public-sector support and private-sector investment.
Building a Pan-African Portfolio
Helios’s strategy extends beyond real estate. The firm is assembling a portfolio of assets it believes can scale across the continent. Its investments include:
- NBA Africa: A foundational partnership to expand basketball’s commercial footprint.
- Zaria Group: Developer of sports and cultural infrastructure, with QA Venue Solutions managing major arenas.
- Professional Fighters League (PFL): Backing the expansion of the global MMA brand into Africa.
- The Malachite Group: An enterprise focused on developing African sports IP and athlete talent.
By investing across infrastructure, leagues, and talent, Helios is making a long-term bet on the continent’s youthful demographics and the increasing global demand for African culture. The move comes as institutional investors begin to look more seriously at Africa’s creative economy, a sector historically overlooked in favour of finance, telecommunications, and natural resources.
With the new $75m fund, Helios is not just writing cheques; it is attempting to build the foundational pillars of an industry whose economic potential is only just beginning to be realised.