Africa and Latin America are building the future on parallel tracks — yet they barely trade with each other. Puente Nova exists to close that gap.
The gap between potential and current reality is where Puente Nova operates.
Africa and Latin America share demographic profile, economic momentum, and cultural energy. Young, rapidly growing populations. Mobile-first economies that skipped legacy infrastructure. Creative industries with global reach and reciprocal audiences.
Less than 1% of both regions' total trade moves directly between them. Most deals still route through European or North American intermediaries who lack real presence in either market — and who charge for access rather than outcomes.
Inherited infrastructure — trade routes, financial rails, professional networks — was built to channel value through other capitals. That infrastructure was not designed to serve this corridor. It is addressable. And the opportunity is significant.
"We operate across both regions, identify trusted partners, and remain involved through execution — ensuring partnerships work beyond the first introduction."
The corridor we are helping to build is not a metaphor. It is commercial infrastructure: relationships, trust, legal pathways, cultural fluency, and the institutional memory to make partnerships work over time.
Helping companies enter new markets across the Atlantic corridor — with genuine partner relationships and accountable execution, not templated playbooks.
Connecting music, film, fashion, and creator ecosystems across Africa and Latin America. Turning shared audiences into commercially real partnerships.
Introducing credible deal flow to investors — and connecting founders to capital pools that would otherwise be inaccessible from their market.
Our deepest relationships are in Lagos and Abuja. Networks extend into Accra, Dakar, and Nairobi — built over years of direct presence.
Mexico City is our LatAm base. Networks across Colombia, Brazil, and Central America — with specific market depth, not broad coverage claims.
We begin by evaluating whether the opportunity is real — for both sides.
Speed to 'yes' is not our measure of success.We focus on trusted local relationships built over years, not available contacts.
A warm intro to the wrong partner is worse than no intro.Lagos is not Accra. Mexico City is not a proxy for Latin America. Each market is built for its specific reality.
No templated playbooks.We define what success looks like before we begin and remain involved until we reach it.
We measure outcomes in the market — not deliverables.Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you honestly whether and how we can help.
Two of the fastest-moving regions in the global economy. Their direct connection is not just an opportunity — it is an overdue correction.
Over 60% of both regions' populations are under 35. This is the largest concentration of young economic participants on earth — and they share tastes, reference points, and digital infrastructure that didn't exist a decade ago.
Mobile-first economies have created direct commercial channels that bypass legacy intermediaries. A Lagos entrepreneur can sell to a Mexico City audience without routing through New York. The infrastructure to support this at scale is being built now.
Afrobeats in São Paulo. Brazilian funk in Lagos. Colombian fashion weeks citing West African designers. The cultural exchange is already happening organically. The commercial infrastructure to match it is not — yet.
Direct trade between Sub-Saharan Africa
and Latin America & the Caribbean
It is a reflection of inherited infrastructure. Trade routes, financial rails, legal frameworks, and professional networks were all built to channel value through European and North American capitals. That infrastructure was not designed to serve this corridor.
Puente Nova is.
The question is not whether Africa and Latin America will build deeper commercial ties. The question is whether that happens through the same intermediary-dependent, value-extractive channels that have historically dominated — or whether it happens directly, with value staying in both regions.
Puente Nova exists to accelerate the second outcome.
We help companies, investors, and creators build direct relationships across the corridor. Not introductions. Not reports. Actual outcomes in real markets.
Helping companies enter markets they don't yet know. Our work begins long before a commercial launch — with an honest assessment of whether the opportunity is real, who the right partners are, and what it will actually take to operate.
We stay involved through the first 12–24 months because we know market entry is not an event. It's a process — and it requires someone in the room when deals stall, partners drift, or regulations shift.
The creative industries are the fastest-growing commercial sector in both regions. Music, film, fashion, gaming, and creator ecosystems already share audiences across the Atlantic — but the commercial infrastructure to match them lags behind.
We close that gap: building partnerships that have real commercial terms, are legally sound across both jurisdictions, and are structured to last beyond the first project.
Capital is abundant. Credible cross-corridor deal flow is not. We connect investors with vetted opportunities in both regions, and help founders access pools of capital that would otherwise be invisible to them.
This is not a warm-introduction service. We provide context — on the market, the team, the regulatory environment — and we stay involved in the relationship after the introduction is made.
We'll tell you honestly whether and how we can help.
Our deepest operational relationships are in Nigeria and Mexico. Everything else radiates from those two centers. Geographic focus is a feature, not a limitation.
Examples of corridor-building work. We don't name clients. We describe the challenge, the approach, and the outcome with enough specificity that you recognize your own situation.
A mid-size consumer technology firm had identified Nigeria as their first Africa market. They had contacts. They did not have relationships. Previous attempts had stalled at the distribution partner stage — twice.
We began with a two-week assessment of their existing pipeline — not to validate it, but to audit it. Three of four 'partners' had no verifiable distribution capability. We introduced two candidates from our network and ran parallel conversations for 60 days before recommending one.
Commercial launch in Lagos 8 months after engagement began. Distribution partner still in place 18 months later. Second market (Accra) opened in month 14.
A Colombian label had an established artist whose sound was drawing West African influences. They wanted to co-release with an Afrobeats artist but had no framework for rights management across both jurisdictions.
We identified three Nigerian artists whose commercial positioning aligned. We structured preliminary terms — royalty splits, territory rights, streaming distributions — before any creative conversations began. Legal first. Collaboration second.
Co-release across both markets within 6 months. Both artists retained full ownership in their home territories. A second collaboration is in pre-production.
A fund with significant West Africa exposure wanted equivalent deal flow in Latin America. They had received introductions from three intermediaries. None of the companies presented matched their existing thesis.
Rather than surface the Latin American equivalent of their African portfolio, we mapped their actual thesis — not the stated one — and identified the structural parallel that made their Africa bets work. Then we found the LatAm companies where that structural condition existed.
Two investments made in the 18 months following engagement. Both in sectors the fund had not previously considered for LatAm. One has since been featured in their LP communications as a portfolio thesis expansion.
They operated from London or New York. They built networks of contacts rather than relationships. They measured success by the deals they initiated — not the ones that worked.
The partnerships that succeeded were the ones where someone with genuine local presence stayed involved beyond the introduction. That insight is the foundation of Puente Nova.
We were built for two markets simultaneously — Lagos and Mexico City — and everything we do is measured against whether it works in practice, in those markets, with the partners involved.
We will not take on a mandate we believe is unlikely to succeed. The short-term cost of saying no is less than the long-term cost of a failed partnership that damages both parties and the corridor's credibility.
We have spent years building relationships in both regions. We only introduce people we trust — and only when the introduction genuinely serves both parties, not just the one that hired us.
Lagos is not interchangeable with Accra. Mexico City is not a proxy for Latin America. We build strategy specific to the market, the moment, and the counterpart — not templated across regions.
We define what success looks like before we begin. We do not bill for activity. We measure ourselves against results — and we stay in the room until those results exist.
Tell us what you're building across the corridor.
The best first messages are specific. Tell us where you are, what you're working toward, and your timeline.
We respond within two business days. If your situation is time-sensitive, say so in your message.
Email directly
hello@puentenova.com"We won't take on a mandate we believe is unlikely to succeed. If we can't help, we'll tell you that too — and point you toward someone who can."
We read every message carefully and respond within two business days. If your situation is time-sensitive, we'll prioritize accordingly.