Advise. Structure. Fund.
We take founder led companies and make them governed, investable and able to run without the founder in the room. When a business is genuinely ready, we put capital behind it.
The Crimson Oak Institutionalisation Index asks about the eight things every investor checks, from how your numbers are kept to who signs when you travel. You finish with a score, a tier, and a plain list of what would stall a raise.
Your COII™ score
ConfidentialEight dimensions. 32 signals. One number a board and an investor can both read.
What we measure
Where you land
0 to 40
Founder company
Capital would break it.
41 to 65
Structured business
Close the gaps first.
66 to 84
Institution grade
Ready to absorb capital.
85 to 100
Investable at scale
We back it ourselves.
Capital is introduced only once the business can absorb it.
That is the line COII™ draws, and the reason founders come to us before they go to investors.
Most firms sell you advisory or capital. We do both, in that order, so the money arrives after the business can carry it rather than before.
Advisory
01You built the business. We build the machine around it, so growth no longer depends on you being in every room.
Capital
02Once the business can carry capital, we structure the raise, run the process, and put private capital to work behind it.
Our focus
We are sector agnostic. But we play hardest in seven verticals where institutionalisation unlocks the most structural impact across the continent.
Agnostic in principle. Deliberate in practice.
How we tailor per sectorFounder owned businesses taken from informal to institutional, then funded. These figures cover mandates we have delivered since 2023, mostly in Nigeria.
Every engagement is led by a partner who has raised money, answered diligence questions, and fixed operations from inside a business. Nobody junior learns the work on your company.
Partner led
Every mandate
Chartered & certified
FIMC · CMC · ACIPM · MMP
Sector coverage
Seven verticals
Board level counsel
Payments · Trade · Tech
FIMC, CMC
Founding Partner, Finance & Business Advisory
Partner & Chief Growth Officer
ACIPM, MMP
Partner & Chief People Officer
PhD (cand.), CIPM
Senior Associate, Human Resources
Operators who have run a national business and continental payment rails sit above the day to day work. They pull plans apart the way an investment committee will, and our clients get that read in month one, not after the round.
Board Advisor
Tayo advises Crimson Oak on operating discipline and enterprise growth, drawing on close to two decades building and running trading, sourcing, and education businesses in Nigeria.
Board Advisor
Damola advises Crimson Oak on digital commerce, payments, and the partnership strategies that turn technology led businesses into scaled, institutional platforms.
Founders: we will sharpen the strategy, build the structure and bring the capital. Investors: we will show you the businesses we have made institution ready.
