At most African fundraising rounds today, the pattern is familiar. DFIs anchor the early closes, institutional investors follow once track records are proven, and domestic pension funds move cautiously within tight regulatory boundaries. Yet there is another constituency, smaller, quieter, and steadily growing, that could reshape Africa’s private capital story over the next decade: family offices.
Globally, family offices have become an increasingly important force in private markets. The scale is striking. According to the Union Bank of Switzerland’s Global Family Office Report 2024, they now manage more than $6 trillion in assets, with nearly half of that capital allocated to private markets. To put this in perspective, the global asset management industry oversees around $128 trillion, meaning family offices account for roughly 4–5% of global assets under management. Deloitte expects this footprint to expand further, projecting a 75% increase in single-family offices between 2019 and 2030—from 6,130 to about
