In a message that has gained significant attention across professional circles, Tenny Tolofari, Co-Founder and Head of Acquisition at XSITE Capital Investment, has called for a renewed commitment to collaboration among African professionals, challenging long-standing stereotypes about unity and trust within the community.
Tolofari noted that Africans continue to excel in some of the world’s most demanding and competitive institutions—including Google, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs—where they lead teams, manage high-stakes decisions, and deliver results under pressure. Yet, he observed, large-scale business partnerships among Africans remain comparatively rare.
For years, he said, common narratives suggested that Africans could not work together or sustain long-term trust in joint ventures. However, Tolofari stated that his experience proves otherwise.
According to him, the issue has never been about capacity but about commitment. He argued that while collaboration naturally comes with friction, disagreement, and differences in working styles—challenges faced by every successful company—other communities achieve success by pushing through these tensions rather than withdrawing from them.
Tolofari pointed to the achievements of XSITE Capital as evidence of what is possible when Africans collaborate with purpose. Working alongside partners Leslie Awasom, Julius Kunle Oni, Eno Hanson, and a diverse team across multiple continents, the firm has closed $243 million in real estate acquisitions and serves more than 400 investors across the United States and Africa, who have entrusted them with over $80 million in capital.
He emphasized that these accomplishments dismantle the stereotypes that Africans cannot build together, stressing that the same resilience and excellence Africans demonstrate in global institutions can be applied to ventures they establish themselves.
Tolofari concluded with a direct challenge to African professionals worldwide: to stop waiting for perfect timing or external validation and to start building together with confidence and intention.
