On the northeastern edge of Tanzania, where the Indian Ocean meets white sand and coral stone, Amari Lewis-Simpson sees more than a resort site. He sees proof of concept.
The development underway, named Zanzibar Hills, is ambitious, with luxury hospitality designed to rival global destinations. But for Lewis-Simpson, it represents a shift in how Africa is perceived, financed, and built.
“It’s more than just a resort; it’s a statement about the new Africa — a continent of luxury, opportunity, and world-class hospitality,” he says.
Lewis-Simpson speaks less like a developer chasing yield and more like an operator pursuing structural change. Through LSP Capital Group, the investment firm he founded in 2024, he has allocated more than £250 million in assets and has secured over £20 million in investments across blockchain, renewable energy, and real estate. Yet his long-term thesis increasingly circles back to Africa.
“Africa’s potential is immense; it is no longer an emerging market but a continent on the brink of a major economic transformation,” he says.
His conviction is not theoretical. It is shaped by geography, identity, and experience.
A Born Entrepreneur
Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, of half Barbadian and Jamaican roots, raised across multiple parts of London, Lewis-Simpson grew up in a single-mother household as the eldest of ten siblings. Instability was constant. Schools changed frequently. By his own account, he was unable to read or write until the age of 11.
“My inability to read or write until the age of 11 was a direct result of the constant upheaval in my early life,” he says.
A speech impediment compounded the difficulty. A teacher in Southall introduced a technique that would alter his trajectory: rhyming words to improve speech. Music became therapy. Writing lyrics became literacy. Gradually, confidence followed.
“I believe I was born an entrepreneur, but my environment undoubtedly shaped and accelerated that inclination,” he says.
Responsibility arrived early. As the oldest sibling, he learned to navigate uncertainty with resourcefulness. He sold sweets in secondary school, initially defying teachers before adapting and selling outside the gates. He played competitive football for clubs including Oxford City and Wickham Wanderers, absorbing lessons in discipline and teamwork. He organized community events, learning how to convene people and manage logistics.
These experiences built a through-line: resilience first, ambition second.
Focus on Africa
Today, that resilience informs how he approaches African markets. He rejects the persistent global framing of the continent as aid-dependent or perpetually emerging.
“For too long, the world has seen Africa through an outdated lens of poverty and struggle,” he says. “That is not the reality on the ground.”
Instead, he points to demographic advantage and institutional evolution. Africa’s population is the youngest of any continent. Urbanization is accelerating. Governments are refining regulatory frameworks designed to attract foreign investment while protecting local interests. In Zanzibar, for example, the Investment Promotion Authority has worked to formalize structures that provide transparency and investor safeguards.
“To become a truly international commercial entity, Africa needs to continue focusing on creating stable and transparent regulatory environments,” Lewis-Simpson says. “Building trust through clear rules and robust legal systems is what will give international partners the confidence to invest at scale.”
His own investments reflect that balance between optimism and pragmatism. In addition to hospitality development, LSP Capital has raised capital for a government-backed regulated renewable energy insurance company, effort aimed at de-risking infrastructure expansion in emerging markets.
Renewable energy, fintech, blockchain, and hospitality are the sectors he sees moving fastest.
New Financial Paradigms
“Technology, particularly fintech and blockchain, is another area of explosive growth as the continent leapfrogs traditional infrastructure,” he says.
That leapfrogging dynamic is central to his strategy. In markets where legacy financial systems were never fully entrenched, digital infrastructure can be implemented without the drag of outdated processes. Tokenization and blockchain-based systems, in his view, offer ways to democratize ownership and unlock liquidity in traditionally illiquid assets such as real estate and private equity.
“We believe tokenization can be a powerful force for good,” he says. “By building the trusted infrastructure for this new financial paradigm, we are not just aligning with a trend; we are actively shaping a more equitable and efficient future for global capital markets.”
But Lewis-Simpson is clear-eyed about the interplay between commerce and governance.
“Politics and commerce are inextricably linked in Africa, but it’s not about cronyism; it’s about partnership,” he says. “When you demonstrate that you are committed to the country’s growth, governments become your most powerful allies.”
That philosophy requires long-term alignment rather than transactional deal-making. It also demands cultural fluency. Lewis-Simpson operates across Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Africa, adjusting strategy according to local norms. Yet Africa, he suggests, carries a different weight.
The stakes feel generational.
Africa Is Repositioning Itself
His future ambitions extend beyond capital markets. He has spoken about building a school designed to provide the kind of adaptive, entrepreneurial education he believes was missing from his own formative years. He sees education reform as inseparable from economic transformation.
In many ways, his career traces a personal arc mirrored in the continent he champions: underestimated beginnings, structural obstacles, and eventual recalibration.
Where some investors see volatility, he sees velocity. Where others see risk, he sees recalibration.
Africa, he insists, is not waiting to be discovered. It is repositioning itself.
And for entrepreneurs willing to engage not just with markets but with systems, the opportunity is not episodic. It is foundational.
Standing on the shoreline in Zanzibar, the horizon is literal. But for Lewis-Simpson, it is also strategic, a reminder that the next decade of African growth may not be about catching up to global markets, but about redefining them.