I was at The Long Table with Yinka Obebe and a group of other fantastic people, on Sunday evening. Yinka asked me, "in all your years moving capital around, what's the most unlikely thing you've found?" I didn't hesitate. It's this: capital doesn't move on numbers, alone. It moves on belief. The crazy, the dumb, the unexplainable, funny reasons people actually release money — that's usually 80% of the real story, and the logic and spreadsheet are just the receipt afterward. Ifeanyi Emene...

I was in Aba recently to speak about startup investing when the conversation moved somewhere more consequential. An experienced eye-care professional — twenty years in business, more than 7,000 clients through his clinics — asked a direct question: how much is all of that worth? Not the chairs, the equipment, or the building. The twenty years. The reputation. The referrals. The trust. The name. Then someone told me about Emeka. He had built a sizeable business and was in talks to combine it...

An angel investor once asked to see me. After a few weeks of calendar clashes, we finally met. As we talked through this new deal on his table, he told me about the time he funded a family member’s movie. “I'm doing a film. Nollywood. But cinematic Nollywood. Not those ones where the ghost is wearing Timberlands. This is different. Netflix-quality. International festivals. Red carpets. Think Black Panther, but make it authentic African." His cousin said. This kind gentleman hears "Netflix,"...