{"id":6965,"date":"2017-08-15T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2017\/08\/15\/profile-in-leadership-paul-kavuma-mba-93-founder-and-ceo-of-catalyst-principal-partners\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:16:13","slug":"profile-in-leadership-paul-kavuma-mba-93-founder-and-ceo-of-catalyst-principal-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2017\/08\/15\/profile-in-leadership-paul-kavuma-mba-93-founder-and-ceo-of-catalyst-principal-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile in Leadership Paul Kavuma, MBA \u201993, Founder and CEO of Catalyst Principal Partners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A catalyst for regional champions in East Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Profile<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When terrorists attacked the high-end Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2013, businessman Chris Getonga was just driving away. He had gone to the mall that Saturday morning to buy a present for his friend\u2019s daughter on the way to her graduation party. As he did most mornings, he also stopped in to say hello to staff at his Mimosa Pharmacy. The chain of pharmacies was Getonga\u2019s most valuable venture, and its flagship store was on Westgate\u2019s ground floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he steered into Nairobi traffic less than five minutes after leaving the mall, Getonga\u2019s phone rang. His brother was calling to say gunshots had been reported inside Westgate, possibly connected to a bank robbery. But soon it was clear the attack was the work of terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footage from the four-day siege by the extremist group al-Shabab, taken by CCTV cameras, shows the four gunmen speaking to customers and then shooting them and mowing people down as they tried to flee. At least 67 people were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Paul\n
Paul Kavuma, MBA \u201993, Founder and CEO of Catalyst Principal Partners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLuckily my staff were all okay,\u201d Getonga says. His pharmacy was looted and the remaining merchandise was soaked when an explosion elsewhere in the mall set off the fire sprinkler system. Getonga had been on the verge of opening two new Mimosa branches on the Kenyan coast. But the mall attack undid his goal of creating a Kenyan spinoff of CVS or Duane Reade \u2014 at least initially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mimosa\u2019s Westgate branch accounted for more than 20 percent of Getonga\u2019s business. For two years while the mall was closed, he lost that revenue. The U.S. travel ban issued for Kenya in the wake of the attack compounded his company\u2019s woes; foreign tourists \u2014 the lifeblood of the Kenyan economy \u2014 no longer flocked to the country\u2019s palm-fringed beaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these sudden blows, the private equity firm Catalyst Principal Partners, still a relative newcomer to the market but an enterprising and quickly relevant one, saw great potential in Mimosa\u2019s foundation. Catalyst founder and CEO Paul Kavuma, MBA \u201993, had a long-term relationship with Getonga and had discussed the potential of investing in Mimosa for many years. Unintimidated by the crisis, Catalyst accelerated engagement and acquired the pharmacy chain in 2014, planning to leverage the platform and build a regional chain with world-class differentiated product offerings. Getonga retained a 5 percent stake, and Kavuma\u2019s team at Catalyst partnered with two other investors. They hired a CEO and COO who both had experience launching outlets of the British pharmacy chain Boots and relaunched the company as Goodlife Pharmacy. They quickly began acquiring more retail space and reopened Goodlife\u2019s Westgate branch in late 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a complete repositioning of the business, leveraging a platform and key relationships in the market with suppliers and landlords that Getonga had built over many years,\u201d Kavuma says, noting that although the company had been saddled with financial struggles after the Westgate attack, it was still the \u201cpreferred pharmacy\u201d for real estate developers in Kenya. \u201cThat\u2019s also how we were able to expand rapidly on the back of the significant equity that he had built in the market, such that we had first choice on prime real estate sites,\u201d says Kavuma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Catalyst\u2019s investment and stewardship, Goodlife grew from eight pharmacies with 95 people on staff to 32 locations with a staff of 260. \u201cPharmacy is the anchor of Goodlife\u2019s product offerings, but we\u2019ve also leveraged the retail format to drive sales in related products, including health and beauty products,\u201d Kavuma says. Several Goodlife branches also have a doctor on staff to provide a one-stop solution for customers: exam, diagnosis, and treatment, all in one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kavuma admits that while discussions had been underway with Getonga for several years, a minority investment in the pharmacy to support the ongoing business was previously challenging. \u201cWhile the health sector and the company\u2019s leadership position in pharmacy had always been compelling, the business was subscale with internal capacity constraints, as compared with our focus on mid-market businesses,\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cBut in the aftermath of the tragic event at Westgate, the site of their largest store, the business faced significant operational and financial pressure that facilitated discussions about a transformational control transaction, with the infusion of management and financial resources that would substantially and fundamentally scale the business. This was the premise under which the investment opportunity became a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catalyst effectively undertook a transformative makeover of the business \u2014 as with a renovation, remodeling, and remarketing of a property \u2014 and built on the solid original structure to relaunch better and bigger. It paid off. When Catalyast sold its majority shares in Goodlife to another investment company in 2016, after just two years of partnership, Catalyst had made more than two times its investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kavuma\u2019s personal passion for this work gives Catalyst startup energy, combined with the grounding of a leadership team whose members have decades of experience in private equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investing in East Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kavuma moved back to East Africa in 2004 with Actis Capital LLP, an emerging markets private equity investment firm. \u201cI\u2019d spent most of my career trying to find a way to get back to East Africa and to focus on this region and be relevant in this market,\u201d says Kavuma, who was born in New York City to Ugandan parents and spent his childhood in England, Ethiopia, and Kenya before returning to the United States for college. He had Actis write into his contract that he would be based in East Africa within two years of having joined the firm in London in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six years into Kavuma\u2019s tenure as the head of East Africa private equity (first in London, then in Nairobi), Actis started focusing on investments in the realm of $100 million rather than the $20 million range that Kavuma felt was most relevant in the market. Actis \u201cwas growing very fast, becoming a global player, an emerging markets player,\u201d Kavuma says. But he wasn\u2019t interested in moving to South Africa or Nigeria to cut deals of that size. Mid-range appealed to him, from the standpoint of the needs of businesses in the East Africa region as well as for the kind of impact he felt he could have and the returns that could be generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the large-cap firms, yes, there\u2019s a need for capital, but they have many sources,\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cThe large deals are often intermediated by investment bankers: Multiple investors are invited to participate in a competitive process, with limited opportunity for engagement among entrepreneurs and managers with respect to their strategic aspirations.\u201d But Kavuma wanted to be more instrumental in companies\u2019 expansion, and more hands on. In 2008 he started soliciting investments for a private equity fund, with a first-round goal of $100 million \u2014 and attracted $125 million. He launched Catalyst Principal Partners in December 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not venture capitalists, and we\u2019re also not impact investors per se, although we invest in emerging businesses and support dynamic entrepreneurs and managers with the aim of building regional champions of scale, Kavuma says. \u201cAnd we firmly believe we have a tremendous positive impact on the companies and on the communities in which we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe invest in emerging businesses and support dynamic entrepreneurs and managers with the aim of building regional champions of scale.\u201d \u2014 Paul Kavuma, MBA \u201993<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He and his investment team seek out businesses that already have a track record where Catalyst can add value to take a company to the next level. \u201cWe work with owners who have already invested significant capital in their business, in an environment where banks are conservative, with limited available risk capital. These owners want to expand into new lines, new segments, and into new markets across the region.\u201d Catalyst is well positioned to support the growth of these businesses as an active partner, Kavuma says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adil Popat, CEO of the Kenya-based Simba Corporation, says the meticulous approach Kavuma and his team take with their deals and their regional focus were major draws as his family business looked to diversify their portfolio. \u201cWe were very keen to invest with him and Catalyst in areas where we would not normally invest,\u201d Popat says, mentioning in particular fast-moving consumer goods (like packaged foods and beverages and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals). Simba Corp was an early investor during Catalyst\u2019s first round of fundraising and has committed to the second round as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrica is a volatile environment, and the more portfolio approach you have is, I think, a positive,\u201d Popat says. \u201cIf one business doesn\u2019t do well and one does very well, you can join together and have a stable return.\u201d Popat\u2019s company invested in Catalyst after a negative experience with another private equity fund that was managed from New York and Chicago. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to invest in Africa \u2014 and I believe this very strongly \u2014 you need an African partner. You need someone on the ground who knows the nuances of the businesses, knows the personalities on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was a driving vision behind Kavuma\u2019s decision to build Catalyst. Private equity was still a new concept in East Africa. \u201cThere were one or two firms doing it but mostly based outside and parachuting into the market,\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cSo we felt we could be a pioneer, a homegrown enterprise with people from the region, and do it locally to international standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was up against skepticism from business owners and potential investors. \u201cTen or a dozen years ago, when I first had those conversations, people were very suspicious. \u2018This is my business. Who are you? Have you heard I\u2019m broke? Why are you approaching me?\u2019 A lot of suspicion.\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cThe more success stories there are, the more adoption there\u2019ll be for this innovative form of funding. So it\u2019s a process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, much of the financing for Kavuma\u2019s fund comes from international institutional investors, representing about 85 percent of Catalyst\u2019s first fund. He expects the second round will still have an international investor weighting, although with greater regional participation, including from local pension funds and high-net-worth investors. (They raised about 60 percent of their $175 million target in a first close in March 2017.) A key hindrance for local fundraising has been a Kenyan regulation that until recently placed time-consuming restrictions on pension fund managers\u2019 ability to invest in private equity funds. Kavuma played an active role in advocating for reforms and in June 2016 achieved an important victory. Under the new regulations, up to 10 percent of a pension fund\u2019s investment capital can now be invested in private equity, without going through a deterring array of protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catalyst\u2019s office on Nairobi\u2019s Riverside Drive, with its brightly painted walls hung with East African art, feels a long way from where it started with Kavuma on his laptop in a shared office space, trying to build momentum behind his vision to fill what he saw as a critical gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting Catalyst \u201cwas a big leap, clearly, but I had leapt before. It goes back to Cornell. As part of my business school courses, I took an entrepreneurship class taught by Professor [David] BenDaniel, who was fantastic.\u201d \u2014 Paul Kavuma, MBA \u201993<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the gamble of starting his own private equity fund \u2014 during the financial crisis, no less \u2014 Kavuma points to his earliest experience with a company that he dreamed up with a fellow Johnson graduate. Starting Catalyst \u201cwas a big leap, clearly, but I had leapt before,\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cIt goes back to Cornell. As part of my business school courses, I took an entrepreneurship class taught by Professor [David] BenDaniel, who was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kavuma and classmate, Joseph Sabga, MBA \u201993, drew up the business plan for a virtual reality caf\u00e9 where patrons could play video games that immersed them in another world. But, this was 1992. \u201cOur professor said it was a great idea but not believable. Not likely to happen,\u201d Kavuma says. He recalls they received a B on the paper as a result. He and Sabga graduated and joined consulting firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of years later, Kavuma and Sabga found they were still developing the concept for the venture. They left their well-paid jobs and moved to Miami where they launched Virtua Caf\u00e9. The company thrived for about five years, but without enough innovation yet in virtual reality technology, the games became dated in an environment where the quality and sophistication of video games were evolving rapidly. Professor BenDaniel \u201cprobably had a point,\u201d Sabga says. \u201cAs virtual reality is coming to the forefront these days, I sometimes contemplate about just how far ahead of the curve we were thinking back then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sold the company and the expensive virtual reality machines. Kavuma moved to London to become an investment banker. \u201cWe didn\u2019t make much money out of it, to be honest,\u201d Kavuma says. \u201cBut it was a fantastic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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