Investing in the Infrastructure of Work
Arise Funds is an impact investment firm. We deploy blended capital and operational infrastructure into workforce development and technology companies – building the institutional systems that generate returns and create employment at scale.
West Africa Convergence Conference
Arise Funds presented the Workforce Capital investment model at WACC, demonstrating how localized talent infrastructure acts as the primary engine for sustainable digital economic growth.
Keynote by Aisha Saaka · Arise Funds
The Investment Thesis
Providing the capital, operational infrastructure, and institutional systems that make early-stage workforce companies investable
We don't fund projects. We finance infrastructure.
The global workforce crisis is not a talent problem. It is a systems coordination failure – training programs exist, employer demand exists, and worker motivation exists, but structural disconnects prevent people from accessing dignified, income-generating work at scale. This is true in Lagos. It is equally true in Louisville
Arise Funds finances the infrastructure that resolves this failure: workforce development and technology companies with employer-integrated models, AI-enabled operations, and capital structures designed to generate returns as employer revenue scales. These are not training programs. They are human capital enterprises.
An active investor model
built for global markets.
We don't write checks and wait. We deploy capital and operational infrastructure together — because in workforce markets anywhere in the world, one without the other rarely works.
Structured entry into blended capital vehicles.
We structure and deploy blended capital — combining concessional funding, income-linked financing, and equity — calibrated to the institution's stage and risk profile.
Operational build-out that creates investable companies.
Alongside capital, we second talent directly into portfolio companies to build the institutional infrastructure that larger investors require.
Transition to institutional capital at scale.
We position portfolio companies for DFIs, development banks, and sovereign wealth funds by building the governance and verified outcome infrastructure they require.
Where talent meets work infrastructure.
From security operations centers to data analytics labs — across Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the United States and beyond — Arise Funds portfolio companies build the environments where real careers begin.
Strategic Partnerships
We partner with employer networks and operating companies to build
infrastructure that delivers measurable talent outcomes and investment returns.
Where talent meets
infrastructure
From security operations centers to data analytics labs — across Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the United States and beyond — Arise Funds portfolio companies build the environments where real careers begin.
Cybersecurity · SOC Operations
Building secure digital environments with trained analysts operating across enterprise and government-grade security operations centres.
Software Development · Global Teams
Cross-border engineering teams delivering scalable software products and managed technology services from West Africa to the world.
Data Science · AI & Machine Learning
Applying machine learning and AI tools to workforce intelligence, service delivery optimisation, and product development pipelines.
Institutional Relationships
Arise Funds works alongside globally recognised institutions to deploy capital, build infrastructure, and deliver measurable workforce outcomes.
World Bank / SLDTP
The Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Programme (SLDTP), supported by the World Bank, provides the policy and funding framework within which the ICBM model operates — connecting institutional capital with on-the-ground workforce delivery.
Digital Bridge Institute
DBI is Nigeria's premier ICT training institution under the Federal Ministry of Communications. Arise Funds works alongside DBI to align curriculum standards, certification pathways, and employment pipelines at national scale.
C1WT
C1WT (Cohort 1 Workforce Technology) is an Arise Funds portfolio company operating the ICBM delivery infrastructure — managing cohort intake, training delivery, employment placement, and outcome verification across Nigeria.
News
Workforce Capital model presented at WACC 2026
Aisha Saaka Lewis addressed the West African Capital Conference, outlining Arise Funds' model for pre-financed training, employer integration, and structural risk-sharing.
First cohort placement begins in Lagos
Arise Funds portfolio company SBTS Group commences placement of the initial cybersecurity cohort into active enterprise SOC contracts.
Operations expand to Freetown, Sierra Leone
Laying local infrastructure for the World Bank-supported digital economy pathways program in collaboration with SLDTP.
The ICBM Model
ICBM is a 7-stage talent economy flywheel — not a training program. Click each stage to see the investor signal.
Precise Talent Selection Reduces Dropout Risk
AI-powered screening before enrolment eliminates misaligned candidates at zero cost. Every cohort that enters the model has already been validated for pathway fit — reducing training attrition to under 8% and protecting cohort completion rates.
“Training doesn't cost — it pays. Every cohort generates employer revenue, graduate repayments, and tax contribution. That is not a program outcome. That is a return.”
- Cybersecurity
- Software Development
- Program & Project Management
- AI & Machine Learning
- Data Science
Built by practitioners,
not theorists.
The Arise Funds team brings together impact investment strategy, federal systems expertise, and 30+ years of human capital leadership.
Aisha Saaka Lewis
Most impact investors come from finance. Aisha Saaka Lewis comes from AI. As a Data & AI Strategist at Accenture Federal Services — where she led analytics transformation for public sector clients including enterprise reporting oversight for PEPFAR — and a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, she spent her career applying technology and data to the hardest problems in government and global development. What she kept seeing was a gap: the infrastructure to connect capital, technology, and workforce development existed in pieces but never as a coherent investment thesis. Arise Funds is the answer to that gap — and the Harvard Kennedy School MPP she holds ensures the policy architecture matches the investment one. Born in Ghana and based in Washington D.C., she leads a firm built on the conviction that the infrastructure of work — and the capital to finance it — must reach every market where talent exists.
LaTonya Blakes
When Arise Funds deploys capital into a portfolio company, LaTonya Blakes is the person who goes in to build it. Seconded from Arise Funds to SBTS Group LLC, she leads the HR infrastructure, compliance frameworks, talent systems, and organizational design that turn an operating company into an institutionally investable one — the human side of the active investor model in practice. Her career spans more than three decades in human capital leadership, including a decade at Booz Allen Hamilton where she directed HR for the National Defense University, led the firmwide Veterans Recruiting program, and built early-career talent pipelines across the DMV region. A George Mason University alumna with certifications in Human Capital Strategy, she leads people strategy, governance, and workforce compliance across Arise Funds' multi-country portfolio operations.
First Portfolio Investment
Arise Funds actively builds and expands the employer network that absorbs ICBM graduates
The model, proven.
SBTS Group LLC is the first company financed and operationally supported by Arise Funds — and the live demonstration that Workforce Infrastructure Investing works. In January 2026, the first cohort of ICBM graduates began earning income in verified digital economy roles.
SBTS Group LLC is the first company financed and operationally supported by Arise Funds — and the live demonstration that Workforce Infrastructure Investing works. In January 2026, the first cohort of ICBM graduates began earning income in verified digital economy roles.
50K Youth Employment Target
8 Countries – Current Footprint
7 Stage Talent Economy Flywheel
Young Women – Every CohortGet in Touch
Ready to deploy capital into workforce infrastructure?
Arise Funds is actively building partnerships with impact investors, development finance institutions, and government bodies. If that describes you we respond to every serious inquiry personally.
Or reach us directly
info@arisefunds.com