Eva Yazhari — Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Ventures, early-stage investor, author of The Good Your Money Can Do, and advocate for conscious capitalism. Her funds have backed 50+ equity and 9 debt investments, reaching over 100 million customers across Africa and India.

First and most recent dollar:
- First job: Working at a Staten Island bread shop.
- Today: Managing partner of a venture + private credit fund investing in emerging markets with LP capital.
Family background & mindset:
- Father grew up in Tanzania; grandfather a medical doctor working with Catholic missions — early exposure shaped her view of Africa as opportunity, not risk.
- Parents were artists — exposure to art trained her in pattern recognition, now one of her investor superpowers.
Education & mindset pivots:
- Started pre-med at Columbia → realized it was toxic competition. Pivoted to math, discovering both aptitude and love of problem solving.
- Training in mathematics = fluency in patterns, language of money, and risk analysis.
Early career:
- VP at Entrust Capital (fund of hedge funds). Employee #2 → helped scale from $200M → $4.8B AUM. Managed relationships with activist hedge fund giants like Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn.
- Learned portfolio building, risk management, and fundraising skills that later became core to her VC work.
Why venture capital in Africa & India?
- By 2050, 1 in 4 humans will be African; India today has the world’s largest working-age population.
- 53% of the next decade’s growth will come from these regions.
- Saw contrarian “alpha” opportunity most Western investors still dismiss.
Sectors of focus:
- Healthcare
- Fintech
- Mobility
- Agtech (selectively)
- All are tech-enabled, solving essential problems for fast-growing middle classes.
Conscious capitalism lens:
- Portfolio companies think beyond profits → align incentives with customers, governments, communities.
- Example: Rwanda’s first licensed online pharmacy; startup scaling e-motorbikes after gas bikes banned.
- Beyond Capital gives founders a share of fund profits — equitable ownership model.
Fundraising lessons:
1. Fundraising is sales math: Eva raised her second fund after 550+ investor meetings → ~30–40 LPs. Funnel has to be very wide.
2. Mindset matters: Rejections happen, but abundance mindset drives momentum.
3. Referrals are gold: “Every dud knows a stud” — rejections often connect you to your best investors.
4. Exude confidence from a clear strategy — investors back comfort + conviction.
Personal insights:
- Considers herself an entrepreneur, not just an allocator.
- Believes leadership skills are as critical as financial acumen.
- Thinks of her fund as her “third child.”

Alternate career: Pop star.
Dream chat: Emma Grede (helped Kardashian brands scale).
Learning style: Podcasts, audiobooks, physical books.
Reading now: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.
Her book: The Good Your Money Can Do.
Pump-up song: The Rapture Pt. 3 by Black Coffee.
Weakness: Moving slowly — always in motion.

https://www.instagram.com/consciousinvestor/?hl=en

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