How Zandre Campos built one of Africa's most powerful investment firms

Zandre Eudenio De Campos Finda did not grow up with a blueprint. He grew up moving. First grade in Cuba. High school in the United States. Law school at Lusiada University in Lisbon. By the time he walked into his first job as a legal advisor at Sonangol, Angola's state oil giant, he had already lived on three continents. That breadth of experience would eventually shape the kind of investor he became.

Today, Campos is the founder, chairman and chief executive of ABO Capital, an international private equity firm headquartered in Luanda with offices in Dubai and the United States. He is consistently ranked among Angola's five wealthiest individuals, a list built on years of disciplined sector bets and a clear-eyed read of where Africa's growth was heading.

Campos did not stay in the legal advisory lane for long. After his early years at Sonangol Holdings and an executive role at SONAIR, a Sonangol aviation subsidiary, he took the helm at Movicel Telecommunications, one of Angola's leading mobile operators, from 2009 to 2012. That run gave him a working understanding of how infrastructure shapes economies. He then moved to Nazaki Oil and Gas S.A. as chief executive, deepening his exposure to Angola's resource sector.

In 2014, he stepped away from the corporate circuit entirely and co-founded what was then called Angola Capital Investments, alongside a small group of like-minded business partners. The firm later rebranded as ABO Capital, short for Africa Business Opportunities. The name shift was deliberate. Campos was not just building a company. He was making a statement about scale.

ABO Capital owns large stakes in ETG, one of Africa's biggest merchants and processors of agricultural goods, Onna, a San Francisco-based data integration platform, and Uncharted Power, a power and data infrastructure technology company. The portfolio cuts across education, healthcare, technology, energy, transportation, hospitality, real estate and financial services.

In January 2026, ABO Capital rebranded the Complexo Escolar Privado Internacional schools in Angola under the Maple Bear name, marking a new chapter in the firm's education push. The Canadian-curriculum schools signal Campos's conviction that quality education infrastructure is as bankable an asset as oil or telecoms.

"The youth of Africa will not continue waiting for this moment. I think this is the moment of Africa. Even though it's difficult, this is what we see on the investment side and from the improvements we are making in Africa," Campos said during a CNBC Africa appearance in August 2024.

He was named one of the Top 25 Business Influencers and received the Distinguished Business Excellence Award by African Leadership Magazine, recognition that cemented his standing as one of the continent's most consequential dealmakers.

Campos has spoken at conferences globally, addressed faculty and students at NYU Africa House, and contributed regularly to international business platforms on Africa's investment case. His thesis has remained consistent, that Africa's youth, its geography and its untapped sectors make it the defining opportunity of this generation. He is betting his firm on it.