Two decades of experience: the first structuring multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals across emerging markets; the second building and scaling hospitality and travel businesses across Africa and beyond.
Komorebi (木漏れ日) is a Japanese word without a perfect English equivalent. It describes the sensation of sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees — a fleeting moment that can be felt but never fully captured in words or images.
It struck us as a perfect metaphor for the intangible benefits of travel, movement, and connection. The best travel experiences — and the best products, services, or investments — share this quality: they create a feeling that must be experienced to be understood.
We look for businesses with this effect — those that resonate beyond the transaction, compound in ways traditional metrics can't fully measure, and endure across cycles.
I began my career as a project finance lawyer with Milbank and Norton Rose, advising on multi-billion-dollar infrastructure, mining, and energy projects in some of the world's most complex jurisdictions.
Highlights included the US$4.4 billion Oyu Tolgoi Copper and Gold Mine in Mongolia — one of the largest mining developments in the world — as well as multiple power projects across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
It was an education in high-stakes due diligence, cross-border negotiation, and delivering results in emerging and frontier markets.
After years in global finance, I stepped into high-end travel with Ker & Downey Africa — first as CEO of the newly launched online travel agency division, then in a leadership role across the group.
Over the next decade, we raised external capital, launched new ventures, and expanded into key markets, including Grand Africa Safaris in Tanzania. By the time I moved on, Ker & Downey Africa had become one of the continent's leading luxury safari operators, operating across multiple countries with a reputation for product innovation and operational depth.
More recently, I co-founded Fluent Living, a serviced living platform in Cape Town, in partnership with the property development company Blok.
In under two years, we grew from zero to managing four apartment buildings and 500+ keys, building new distribution channels across B2B and direct — while tackling the challenges of scaling fast: talent acquisition, systems architecture, and process discipline.
Today, through Komorebi Holdings, I publish independent investment research on small-cap, publicly listed travel and travel-adjacent companies worldwide — and advise founders, funds, and operators on strategy, growth, and capital allocation across the sector.
The practice draws on two decades of building and scaling businesses in travel, and a prior decade structuring complex transactions in emerging markets. Originally from the UK and now based in Cape Town, I work with a small number of clients and maintain a concentrated public equity portfolio aligned with the themes I research and write about.
We follow threads wherever they lead — from eVTOL manufacturers in Germany to safari operators in Botswana. The best ideas often live at the edges of conventional sector maps.
We invest and advise with a long duration in mind. The Komorebi effect compounds slowly. We are not optimising for the next quarter.
When we find a business that creates value beyond the transaction, we back it with conviction — whether that means a concentrated position or a long engagement.
Whether you're a founder, fund manager, or operator — we'd like to hear from you.
lee@komorebiholdings.com