South African Rushil Vallabh and American Brenden Mullen are the co-founders and co-managing directors of a Johannesburg-based, venture capital outfit called Secha Capital. Secha’s mission is to “provide patient capital to established African SMEs” - primarily within FMCG and agri-business industries - and to support them by providing access to best-in-breed, hands-on business consulting.

In this conversation with Andile Masuku, Rushil and Brendan expound on Secha’s hybrid investment thesis and explain how they are channelling all the skills and competencies they acquired at Bain (where they both formerly worked) into promising businesses.