Paras Patel

Paras Patel is the Founder and Managing Partner of E3 Capital. He has 15+ years of investment banking and asset management experience and is a serial entrepreneur with exits in Europe and Africa. Raised in Kenya, Paras has always had a strong desire to foster sustainable development across the African continent. His mission is clear – leverage market-based approaches to extend digitised, decentralised and decarbonised affordable, appropriate services to those who need them most. With a keen eye for emerging trends and a passion for innovation, Paras has carved a distinguished path in the corporate landscape successfully leading the E3 Low Carbon Economy fundraise to its first close in Q2 2023, demonstrating his market leading reputation in bringing strong LPs into the firm’s second fund.

As a founding member of EAV, Paras has played a pivotal role in constructing the fund’s thesis around investing in smart infrastructure solutions for Sub-Saharan Africa. Paras led EAV’s investment into several innovative verticals, including commercial and industrial solar, wireless ISPs and digital LPG solutions, as well as into d.light, which became EAV’s first exit in 2020. Paras currently sits on the boards of Carbon Value Exchange (CAVEX), Badili Africa, Solarise Energy, Mawingu Networks and SolarX where he leverages his entrepreneurial savvy, structured thinking and strategic mindset to drive sustainable growth.

Before joining EAV, Paras honed his entrepreneurial skills by founding Simply Live in 2012, a startup in the UK, scaling it into a pan-European player and exiting it in 2014. Prior to that, Paras worked at HSBC in Investment Banking and Asset Management for 10 years in the UK, where he played an integral role in restructuring their Asset Management business. Paras holds a BEng (hons) degree in Engineering from the University of Warwick, UK and an MSc in Finance from the Warwick Business School.