Gabriel Osamor, CEO at Migasuto

Welcome to another VC Wisdom Podcast. We have Gabriel Bassamo with us today. He's a CEO and founder at MigaSuto, CFO at Black British Initiative as well. He's architecting resilient financial infrastructure and unlocking capital for the UK's next generation of entrepreneurs. So, Gabe, welcome to the podcast. Tell us a bit more about yourself and what you've been up to.

Yes, thank you so much, Charles. Absolute pleasure to be here. Um, so I'm Gabriel Osamor, um, founder and CEO of Migosito and also CFO of BBI, which is the Black British Initiative. Um, very passionate about, um, unlocking capital for like founders that are really willing to put in the work and to really understand the importance of having a robust foundation that can help them absorb capital. So really excited to dive into it.

Nice, man. Um, okay, so tell me about your background and, uh, how you landed where you are, uh, today.

Thank you. Um, yes, so my background, I initially studied law, um, thinking I was going to become a lawyer. And then really, um, in the whole venture of learning about commercial awareness, because as a lawyer you need to be commercially aware All of this then led to me learning about the stock markets and investing, and I then had the opportunity to intern at an investment firm called Nomura. After interning, I then got a full-time role at T. Rowe Price. T. Rowe Price is an investment manager that currently, I think, manages just over $1 trillion in assets. I was really blown away by the opportunity to work there right after graduation and my internship at Nomura. And then after like a year and a bit at T. Rowe Price, I then moved to Brown Advisory, which is also an investment firm that currently manages, I think, nearly $200 billion. And yeah, spent nearly 5 years at Brown Advisory and before building Megasuto. So I built Megasuto back in 2023. And so with my co-founder, who is also my mom, And then whilst also doing this like part-time, I was then in 2025, I then had the opportunity to transition into the venture full-time. So yeah, I mean, it takes time to build something great, right? So yeah, really excited to dive more into it.

And when you said transition in venture, you guys invest in startups or how does that work?

Fantastic. So we don't invest in startups. It's very important to be clear on this. So we're a CFO, CFO firm. We offer fractional CFO services to, um, to early-stage companies, and we do this through, um, two of our different bespoke portfolios. One of it is Megasuite Ascension, which is for companies doing under £500K, um, so, um, and then Megasuite Pinnacle Performance, which is for companies doing over £500,000 in revenue. And the distinction between both is Um, so as CFO of BBI, um, we're dismantling systemic barriers that Black entrepreneurs face in the UK. So for context, the median turnover of a Black-owned business in the UK is £25,000 versus the national average of £806,000. So BBI provides an accelerated MBA program that really helps Black entrepreneurs build the business plan, build their business in a more robust way, and also give them a a great chance to close that $781,000 revenue gap. And then Megasito Ascension was then formed as a graduation opportunity for some of these Black founders, as well as founders doing under $500K really to build like foundations. So we execute our strategies through 3 key stages. Foundation, where we look at the business models, pricing, And then we move to readiness where we then support with building financial models and also understanding the goals. If it's to raise early-stage investments like angels, like grant investments, also grow your sales as well, because again, the cheapest capital you can have is revenue. When you have more revenue, a lot of opportunities are unlocked. So, and then we do that in readiness, and then from growth and partnership is where we then support the, the founders to execute all of these foundational assets we have built to then either raise investments or, or get more corporate contracts and just scale their business. Um, yeah, so that's what we do at Megasuit Ascension. And on the pinnacle end is always different in that these are companies that are already generating revenue, but sometimes they need the structure. So we also do this through 3 key pillars: operational excellence, data-driven insight and strategic corporate finance. Um, so some of these companies, again, that are already generating revenue, they need structure, they need to understand their current valuation, they need to understand where they're going. Say they're doing £1 million in revenue at the moment, how do they get to £10 million? What kind of systems do they need to be building in terms of being able to absorb more capital to scale? So this is where we focus on in Megasuite of Pinnacle. So it's a two-portfolio solving similar problems, but like at different stages, right?

Uh, let's double-click on the Black-owned business that do like, uh, I think is 15x less than the national average. Well, what's interesting is that I'm not, I'm not sure that national average is, uh, is accurate, right? Like €800,000 a year seems like a lot. Maybe that's factoring in like big corporations, but most small businesses, they make like $100K per year, uh, or something like that, uh, even UK or US, right? Um, but still, uh, that would place the Black average at 3x or something like that. Why is that the case? Like, fundamentally, like, what have you identified? Um, is it exclusion? Is it the lack of like a role model in their community? Tell me a bit more about it.

Yes. And firstly, the average I was speaking about is when you include very large corporations as well, right? But then when you strip out larger corporations, it's still quite significant. It's still around over 400,000 when you take out the very large businesses. So one of the key challenges we've found is something we like to refer to as the infrastructure gap. So due to the fact that sometimes there's the lack of access and lack of education in terms of building key assets to scale your business, when that is missing, it then really makes it difficult to absorb capital. For example, if you don't have very clear like risk management frameworks, how do you understand the risk you're taking, because again, startup is risky business. How do you quantify that risk to understand how to mitigate it, right? To then lead to your growth. Also, having very clear understanding of your pricing frameworks and your forecasting. Where are you headed? Like, where are you going? So the business plan usually communicates all of these things, right? And also being a part of the BBI ecosystem, I've had the opportunity to interview hundreds of Black founders, and I'll say about 80% of them don't have a business plan. And it's not a criticism as well, because think about it, when, um, sometimes you're the first in your family to build a business, you're the first in your generation sometimes to go to university, it then makes it difficult for the— there's the educational gap where you don't have like a springboard to really help you get those foundational understanding and knowledge Then you find yourself as a Black founder having to figure it out. So what does this mean in practice? You're bootstrapping, you're hustling, which is one thing I really appreciate about Black founders, like really good at hustling, bootstrapping. But sometimes you really need to professionalize how you do things. You need to be able to communicate your value proposition. You need to be able to understand your ICP, which is your ideal client profile. And also like the TAM, the total addressable market of your industry you're solving. By able to— by being able to distill all of these things into quantifiable metrics, it helps to narrow down your focus. Because when you're— then you've narrowed down your focus, you know, okay, how do I make the first £100,000? I need to sell 4 contracts at £25,000 each. By knowing your ICP, you're not wasting time talking to everyone. You're only targeting the exact number of potential customers you're trying to reach. So there are all of these educational gaps, and this is why I'm really excited to be CFO of BBI, because through the MBA30 program we offer, we are educating Black founders about these things. And then the education is the first piece, right? But after the education is then execution. You've like to pass the course, you need to, um, you need to, to build a full business plan and you pitch it to an investor. At the end of the program. So what that means is you're getting an accredited MBA, accelerated MBA, like business plan from SOAS University, which is a very prestigious university. So yes, all of this we believe like firstly solves that infrastructure gap. After you have your business plan, you're then able to professionalize how you do run your business. It then helps you to start to close that gap and understand how to scale properly.

And Gabe, maybe it would help the audience if you start with your story, right? You're a Black founder, you came from Nigeria. I believe your mother is still in Nigeria or something like that. Do you consider yourself a success story? And if so, like, what did you do differently that you would advise Black entrepreneurs to do?

Yeah, thank you so much. Yes, so, um, Again, for context, born in Lagos but grew up in London, like, well, Essex and London. And, um, right, so I went to a non-Russell Group university because, again, like, sometimes when you go to the top universities, you have more opportunities. You have the opportunity to network. So at those early stages, studying law, year 2, I learned about networking, right? And I got really excited about it. I probably attended hundreds of networking events in London. And, um, it was at a mock interview where, um, it wasn't supposed to be a real interview, it was just a mock interview. And, uh, I was asking really good questions. I had my suits and my tie on. And, um, being able to demonstrate seriousness and the hunger to learn got— landed me my first internship at Nomura. So the VP that gave me a mock interview was really impressed with the questions I was asking. And then when I graduated from, um, studying law. This was in 2018. I was then given the 2-week internship. And again, like, to get an internship at a firm like Nomura, there are thousands and thousands of applicants. And I had got that opportunity by being prepared and just taking opportunities very seriously. So after that, um, I was able to really— like, I learned a lot within those 2 weeks. I then, like, you understood some of the industry linguistics, like the acronyms. I was able to apply that at my interview at T. Rowe Price, which is a very impressive firm, like, so that currently manages over a trillion dollars in assets. So I always describe the interview at T. Rowe Price as the Hunger Games. There were like 50, I think nearly 50 student graduates that were interviewing for that opportunity. And, and yeah, I was just enthusiastic, even if I studied law. It was a finance kind of role. I was still very— I think my passion and my hunger to learn got me to the next stage. And then I was then one of 4 people to be chosen to go through to get that opportunity. And then being at T. Rowe Price and learning, that was where I really understood, because at that point I was still thinking, oh, I might want to go back to law. But I was like, okay, I really love it here. I want to grow within finance. I started to do all these exams. So I started with the Investment Operations Certificate, the Investment Management Certificate, which is the IMC, and then started CFA 1 and 2. So just to summarize, I just grabbed all of these opportunities, and, um, and I was very curious. I just asked too many questions and, um, explored things. I tried things. I failed sometimes, but, um, I just kept moving. So I think What has really helped me is just not taking no for an answer. Like, firstly, I knew that it was difficult to transition from studying law to like go deep into finance and really be very technical, but I embraced it. I really didn't look back, right? And I'm really pleased for the opportunity. And I had mentors as well, like being able to be shameless sometimes to talk to very senior people at the firms I've worked at. So at some of these firms I've worked, I had very senior mentors who, um, who mentored me monthly. And all of these really shaped my mindset into being a leader. Um, and, and yes, and apply all of those into what I do today. And also, even with building the business, like, we initially built Megasuto, um, and we're initially focused on content creation for financial advisors and wealth managers. And, um, we— as soon as I learned more about like, because again, my passion was being able to apply the infrastructure, like, for example, like research analytics into actionable, like, decision-making, like raising funding. Um, so starting with that, like, was like starting with, like, content creation really also gave me the understanding on how to, like, um, drive, like, communicate with, like, data and tell stories to make people thought leaders. And then taking it a step further. Because again, when you build a business from day one, it doesn't mean that's what you'll be doing in year 4, year 3. So which I just kept learning what does the market need, because again, you need to be solving a very real problem. And then I realized that, yeah, the fractional CFO side of things was very important. And again, it's not— we're not— I wouldn't say we're traditional fractional CFOs, because again, traditional fractional CFOs are more focused again on like the infrastructure, the data, the bookkeeping. We're very forward-looking and we also focus more on how do we help these customers, these clients we're working with also get like sales and investments. How do they not only rely on like dilutive funding like equity, how can they think of grants? How can they think of getting more corporate contracts? What do they need to be doing to position themselves that way? And also, how could they be thought leaders? So I say Ascension is, um, we call it— we lead with, um, it being a fractional CFO service where, again, it's a great opportunity for these startups because, again, they have very limited resources and probably won't be able to afford many, uh, different type of services. So really building a portfolio where we're solving multiple problems that a startup might need to hire different consultants for?

That was a long answer. Um, if I summarize it right from my lens, I've spoken with thousands of founders, I would say hustle, right? Hustle is like so important. Then you're hustler, you won't take no for an answer. Your mom is an entrepreneur, right? Like for 18 years, like she did safari stuff or some stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so she, she worked within tourism, like helping, um, founders and businesses like travel around the world with ticketing and airlines, and also like getting them visas to like travel. So that was like her.

Yeah. So she, she got you in, right? Like that's already pretty hard, like, uh, to get you in the UK. And then I feel for you, it's like burn the boats and it's like now or never. And did you feel that pressure or that, that good energy behind you to sort of force you to, to make it and, and, you know, like swim or sink?

Yes, I, I, I think, um, I had the mindset that firstly, like I wanted to pursue my passion. My passion was, um, it was twofolds actually, because firstly, I, um, in 2021 I visited Africa, Nigeria for the first time since I was a kid. And also started to go to Ghana, which is not too far from Nigeria. Um, yeah, so being able to, to go there, I learned about the youth unemployment, like very high, like, levels of youth unemployment. And I started to mentor young, um, young, like, students, and, um, some of them graduated. So the— through mentorship, I learned that, oh, like, they need more than just mentorship, like, when they graduate, graduating, right? And this was where the whole content creation idea initially came up because again we're thinking how can we monetize so that these people back home can get paid because I had a job I didn't I wasn't like building for like to make to make money I just wanted to help um those young Africans like get paid and build they teach them a skill um so all of that was what then led into like it becoming professional into a business so I wasn't really it wasn't always like a dream of becoming an entrepreneur or it just happened naturally. And, um, and from doing that, it then led into, um, right, okay, from an investment perspective, I always want to be a part of fundamentals. I want to really understand, like, what makes a business grow, how, how can a business go from zero to hero. And so all of these things I kept figuring out in my career, everything then added up, right? So, because again, we have a team in Lagos, like, we've built, um, the, the, the Nigeria, like, region from scratch as well. And then, and also it's a very important part of our operations, um, so again, like, solving that youth unemployment challenge in terms of, like, being able to, to work with and train, um, Nigerian youths to a global standard. And, um, so we did a bit of that in Ghana as well. So again, being able to solve all of these problems was what led to, um, was what led to me just being really hungry and saying, right, I want to make this work. Yeah. So again, it's impact, a mix of impact and a mix of my passion, which is investment. Yeah.

How does it feel to be Black in London nowadays or in the UK? And how does it feel to be a Black entrepreneur in London/UK?

Yeah, I think I just embrace it. I don't really I'll say I don't really like to think of myself as like, oh, I'm just a Black entrepreneur. I like to really just think of myself as I'm solving a very important problem. I always like to focus on the narrative, like what I'm doing. And also I like to make sure that, like, for example, if I want to get opportunities, like I like to be prepared, like make sure I do my due diligence, do my research. If I'm trying to maybe get some funding or trying to get some um, contracts, like really about making sure I'm well informed. Because again, I believe that opportunity meets, um, when you're prepared, like the opportunities will come. Like, for first day, I'm blown away. I never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur. I just wanted to like keep growing my career in finance. All of these just happened, and I just embraced all of these opportunities. And sorry, one thing I didn't say was before I did this, I just kept traveling learning, meeting investors across Africa, across the US, and just meeting a lot of people. All of this informs my knowledge into transitioning into an entrepreneur. So again, then taking a step back, how does it feel to be a Black entrepreneur in the UK? I think, yes, an exciting time, really. Like, not really limiting myself by any— the statistics are horrible, like, when you look at it. I don't like to dwell on those statistics. I believe in, um, making sure I, I, I set the, the highest, like I'm— I set myself up to win.

So, so that's how you compare the statistics of, uh, Black entrepreneurs in UK vs the US? How different is the landscape, environment, situation there?

Yeah, I think it, it would definitely be like much better in the US because again, like it's I think, yeah, in terms of opportunities. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, um, I mean, the US is bigger. It's, um, there's the American dream, and, um, I know, like, so yeah, there's, there's definitely more opportunities.

But Black entrepreneurs are still very much struggling in the US. Uh, I've studied the portrait, and it's, it's not a pretty thing, right? Even like Black community, even before we talk entrepreneurship, it's, uh they have major, major problems. Um, so when you, you say UK is worse than— I'm like, fuck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, yes, it's— yeah, I mean, from, uh, for example, when you take it from an investment perspective, like working within investment management and like the prominent roles within investment management, like when you compare it UK versus US, like it's very The— I mean, US, if they're progressing, doesn't mean they're better, doesn't mean it's better. It's still very low, right? But it's like doing better in terms of statistics. But in the UK, for example, um, there was a study like, I think before 2020, they found that, um, there were only 12 lead Black portfolio managers in the UK, like within the investment industry. So out of thousands and thousands. So, and also like less than 1% of, uh, of Black fund managers in the UK. And when you think of finance, you put it into context, the fund manager role is a very, it's one of the most impressive to hold in finance. And they're very less and less, less than 1% pretty much. So the statistics are not great, but I don't, again, I don't like to look at those. I just focus on what is my value proposition? How can I help like people around me? How can I help the founders I work with? I, I tend to focus more on that, and I have an optimistic mindset. Um, again, I just believe that anything is possible. I don't, I don't like people that tell me that, oh, it's not possible, because I hear that all the time. Oh, this is not possible. Um, I just believe that, like, it's— I think of it in a probability-weighted way. Like, if I— if— what are the odds if I, I put in all the efforts and I set myself up for success I believe that eventually it would come. And again, I am blown away by the opportunities that I've received, that Megasuit have also received since transitioning into the business full-time. So yeah, and I'm very—

yeah, I love that probabilistic thinking. Even if like one initiative has like 20% of success, well, try 5 initiatives and that gives you 100% success chances technically. How's the entrepreneurial landscape in Nigeria? I believe there's very much like exciting stuff happening in Nigeria.

Yes, yes, it's— there's a lot of exciting stuff going on there. And again, Nigeria has been one of the largest African region that has received a lot, like a lot of capital from global markets, uh, from an African perspective. Um, yes, I always love to— when I, I'm in Lagos, I get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs. And, um, and again, like a lot of them are thriving, like regardless of the macroeconomic headwinds over there, but a lot of them are still persevering, which is impressive. Um, so, so yeah, I think it's a very good landscape over there.

Gabe, thanks for showing up today. Where can people find out more about you?

Yeah, thanks. Um, LinkedIn. I use LinkedIn more. Um, I'm not very active on X, um, or other platforms. I think I tend to use LinkedIn more. So yeah, let's connect on LinkedIn.

There you go. So I was Gabe and Charles for another