For decades, a stubborn stereotype has followed African professionals around the world: they excel in top global companies but struggle to build successful enterprises together. Tenny Tolofari, Co-Founder and Head of Acquisition at XSITE Capital, grew up hearing those claims repeated in boardrooms, conference halls, and community conversations.
But today, after helping close over $243 million in real estate acquisitions and serving more than 400 investors across the U.S. and Africa, he says the narrative is not just outdated; it is false.
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Tolofari points out a reality that is often overlooked. Africans are already driving major decisions in some of the world’s most influential institutions. From Google to McKinsey, Goldman Sachs to top U.S. hospitals, Africans are trusted with high-stakes responsibilities, managing billion-dollar portfolios, leading critical teams, and delivering results where the pressure is highest. If competence, trust, and discipline fuel their success in these spaces, why should those qualities vanish when Africans choose to build with one another?
For a long time, even he wrestled with the question.
“I heard it everywhere,” he recalled. “Africans can’t work together. Someone will always run off with the money. Trust never lasts.” These ideas were repeated so confidently that even he wondered if they were true.
But Tolofari later found the answer in experience. The issue was not ability; it was endurance. Building with other people is inherently difficult. Every partnership comes with friction, different values, different temperaments, and different ways of working. The presence of conflict is not a sign of failure but a natural byproduct of collaboration.
“In every successful community around the world, people build despite their differences,” he explained. “They stay committed to the vision long enough to figure it out. That is the real secret, not perfection but persistence.”
At XSITE Capital, Tolofari saw firsthand what happens when Africans bring that same persistence to their own ventures. Together with his partners Leslie Awasom, CRNA, Julius Kunle Oni, M.D. FAOA, and Eno Hanson, he helped shape a multicultural team stretched across continents. The team combined expertise in healthcare, finance, real estate, and business innovation to build a company trusted by high-earning professionals seeking passive investment opportunities.
From its early struggles to its multimillion-dollar portfolio, XSITE Capital is the living proof that collaboration is not only possible but powerful. Today, the firm manages over $80 million in investor capital and has built a track record that continues to draw interest from Africans and non-Africans alike who want to grow generational wealth through real estate.
The success story goes beyond numbers. It challenges assumptions that have held many African professionals back from forming partnerships, co-founding businesses, pooling resources, and scaling enterprises beyond borders. Tolofari believes that as long as old narratives go unchallenged, they limit what African professionals feel empowered to attempt.
“We are not our fears,” he said with conviction. “The same excellence we bring to other people’s companies can be brought into our own ventures. We just need to choose to try longer, harder, and together.”
For him, the real message is one of awakening. He wants African professionals around the world to rethink what is possible when they combine their networks, capital, expertise, and ambition.
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His challenge to the next generation is clear and direct. Stop waiting for the perfect moment, stop seeking external validation, and stop letting recycled stereotypes define the future.
Because the truth, he says, is already unfolding in front of us. Africans can build together, and when they do, they build boldly.
