Afsane Jetha

Afsane Jetha is the founder, managing partner and CEO of Alta Semper Capital, a London-based private equity manager she founded in 2015 alongside Ronald Lauder and Richard Parsons. Alta Semper describes its mission as democratizing access to generational health and well-being across growth markets, with a focus on healthcare, health-tech and consumer opportunities.

Before founding Alta Semper, Jetha spent nearly five years at Duet Group as managing director of the firm’s African private equity platform, investing nearly US$200 million across Sub-Saharan Africa. Alta Semper says she led the Dashen Brewery transaction in Ethiopia and sourced or executed consumer-facing deals in Ghana, Uganda and Cote d’Ivoire.

Earlier in her career, Jetha worked at GI Partners, where she executed healthcare, consumer and real-estate transactions, and before that was part of Permira’s consumer team in London. She also worked at Wasserstein Private Equity and Merrill Lynch in New York.

Jetha holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSc in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Alta Semper notes that she is a fourth-generation Tanzanian with personal and professional ties to East Africa, and speaks conversational French, Gujarati and basic Swahili.

• Alta Semper’s stated mission is to “Democratize access to generational health and well-being across growth markets.”
• The firm backs market-leading businesses in underpenetrated, resilient sectors where it can enable operational impact, especially healthcare, consumer and education.
• Alta Semper seeks majority stakes or significant minority positions with a path to control.
• The firm targets companies seeking US$20-60 million of investment; IFC’s disclosure for Alta Semper Growth Fund II describes a US$150 million fund targeting 6-10 mid-cap companies with average deal sizes of US$15-25 million.
• Sector priorities include primary care, specialized clinics, diagnostics and imaging, pharmaceutical manufacturing/retail, consumer wellness, nutritional supplements, medical devices, digital health and enabling technology.
• Technology is treated as a core overlay: Alta Semper says it selectively deploys proven disruptive technology to “super-charge business models” and further health equity.
• The firm explicitly avoids K-12 strategies and says it does not invest in multi-disciplinary facilities.
• Geographic focus is selected high-growth African economies and MENA markets, with current or target presence across London, Cairo, Nairobi, Lagos and Mauritius.