At a Glance
- Silverbacks expands into sports and media, redefining Africa’s creative and investment landscape.
- The Mauritius-based firm eyes scalable growth in Africa’s entertainment and technology sectors.
- Ibrahim Sagna leads push to turn Africa’s sports and media into investable platforms.
Silverbacks Holdings, a Mauritius-based private investment firm led by Senegalese financier Ibrahim Sagna, is expanding its footprint across Africa’s sports, media, and entertainment sectors.
The firm aims to turn Africa’s creative industries into investable assets through technology-driven ventures and disciplined dealmaking.
Founded in 2019, Silverbacks is backing fast-growing companies that bridge finance, fandom, and innovation across the continent, part of a wider bet that Africa’s creative economy is ready to scale.
Where it all began
Sagna’s journey from global finance to African investment leadership provides context. The Senegalese financier worked at institutions such as the African Export‑Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Africa Finance Corporation before turning his attention to platform-builders on the continent.
In late 2022 he became Executive Chairman of Silverbacks Holdings, positioning it as a “growth engine for Africa-born champions”. Silverbacks itself was founded in 2019 and uses Mauritius as a hub to back tech-enabled, media-oriented and sports-adjacent enterprises across Africa, sectors often underserved by traditional investors.
While covering a broad base of direct and indirect investments, its core investments are concentrated around 14 companies whose combined valuation is in excess of $10 billion.
From finance to fandom
What distinguishes Silverbacks’ thesis is its embracing of sports, media and entertainment — arenas historically seen as higher-risk in Africa due to fragmented markets, regulatory gaps and monetisation challenges. For example, the firm recently invested in South Africa’s sports-tech company NERGii, aligning with its view of sports assets as “defensive” because they tie into recurring revenue models (media rights, leagues, branded content).
The pivot signals an expectation that African creative economies — from streaming platforms to athlete-tech and regional leagues — are ready for scale. But it also demands more than simply backing a good idea: it requires building infrastructure, governance frameworks and exit pathways where precedent is thin.
Core business still the anchor
While Silverbacks expands geographically and sector-wise, the firm’s foundational mode remains private equity-style investment into growth companies with exportable models. The challenge is to keep the core strategy disciplined while layering in sports/entertainment risks.
Unlike traditional infrastructure or fintech deals, creative-economy assets often have longer gestation periods and more volatility. If Silverbacks backs too many such proofs-of-concept simultaneously, its liquidity or return profile might be stretched.
Balancing ambition vs. discipline
Silverbacks’ portfolio now spans technology, media platforms, sports franchises and lifestyle brands. The breadth offers upside — regional first-mover advantage, export revenue, brand equity — but also complexity. Analysts might caution that success hinges on tight governance, capable operational teams on the ground, and crystallising value within expected time-horizons.
Sagna himself has emphasised that sports and entertainment are “defensive assets” given recurring revenue, but the label doesn’t remove the execution risk of building large-scale African platforms.
Established in 2019, Silverbacks Holdings is a Mauritius-based investment firm targeting high-growth opportunities in Africa’s tech, sports, entertainment and creative economy.
At Bloomberg’s 2025 African Business Media Innovators (ABMI) , held in Livingstone, Zambia, Silverbacks announced its ninth profitable exit from a partial divestment from its stake in Nigeria’s Omniretail , a B2B commerce startup digitizing informal retail supply chains valued at more than $100 million. The exit generated a robust multiple of five times initial cash invested, reinforcing the firm’s strong track record of value creation across African markets.
“This 9th exit is another validation of our long-term strategy and reaffirms the exceptional calibre of entrepreneurs we support. Inevitably, Silverbacks’ crop of founders will be at the forefront of Africa’s next generation of global brands,” Ibrahim Sagna, Executive Chairman of Silverbacks Holdings, said.
This milestone follows Silverbacks’ recent eighth exit at 29x cash invested from another Nigerian fast-growing remittance and payment-focused company Lemfi. It recently partnered with DAZN (backed by Saudi-based SURJ) to elevate African traditional sports globally in preparation for its next biggest Dambe event set for June 28th at the National Stadium Velodrome in Abuja, Nigeria, on the margin of the highly anticipated AFREXIMBANK Annual General Meetings.
Why it matters
Silverbacks’ journey reflects more than an investment firm’s growth story, it reflects a shift in how Africa’s future value chains are being built. When capital flows into sports franchises, streaming platforms, athlete-tech or lifestyle brands, it signals that the continent’s creative economy is being taken seriously.
For Sagna and Silverbacks, the real challenge isn’t just deploying capital. It’s building businesses with sufficient operational rigour, scalability and exit potential, because ambition alone won’t deliver returns.
In the end, the optimism of backing Africa’s creators, athletes and platform builders must be matched by disciplined governance and clear revenue models. Because in investment, belief unlocks opportunity — but discipline delivers value.
