LRE Invest Africa is a leading investment firm headquartered in Kampala, deploying strategic capital across Uganda and East Africa's most transformative sectors, from the fertile soils of the Rift Valley to the digital corridors of a rising continent.
LRE Invest Africa is a Kampala-based investment company connecting Brazilian and global private capital to the opportunities of Uganda and East Africa. We channel disciplined, responsible investment into the sectors shaping the continent's future, agronomy, engineering, sustainability, mining and technology.
LRE was born from LECA, a Brazilian company led as a partnership between Leon Guimarães and Camila Fontana. After 34 years building businesses in Brazil, LECA expanded its investments into Africa in 2025 through its African arm, LRE Invest Africa. The venture took shape through the partnership with J. Ruben Marone and, in Uganda, with lawyer, partner and representative Paul Sebunya, uniting Brazilian capital, international dealmaking and deep local expertise. LECA remains LRE's controlling shareholder, while LRE carries the vision forward on the ground in Uganda.
Headquartered in Uganda, LRE unites two worlds: Brazilian capital and operational discipline on one side, and deep local knowledge, institutional relationships and on-the-ground execution on the other. It is this combination that lets us identify real opportunities, structure them responsibly, and see them through.
We concentrate capital where Uganda's competitive advantage is greatest, sectors where disciplined investment creates lasting prosperity.
Clean energy, carbon credit programmes, and environmental stewardship positioning Uganda as a leader in Africa's green transition.
A benchmark gold processing center in the Kassanda region, bringing transparency and predictability to small-scale miners.
Infrastructure that connects communities and raises living standards, starting with the construction of a sustainable hospital and extending to roads, industrial facilities and urban development built to international standards.
Smart, connected infrastructure, from intelligent public lighting to airport automation systems, driving Uganda's leap into a modern, efficient and digital economy.
Boosting Uganda's agricultural potential with advanced soil technology, including agricultural gypsum to improve soil structure, correct subsoil acidity and supply calcium and sulfur, strengthening root systems and raising crop productivity.
Three strategic initiatives creating lasting value through automation, smart energy and circular sustainability across Uganda.
Automation
In Progress
An integrated gold extraction, processing and weighing facility designed to automate production control from ore intake to final balance. The platform connects plant equipment, digital scales and field teams through a secure app, giving LRE real-time visibility over output, traceability, inventory and operational performance across mining sites.
Smart Energy
Prospecting
A sustainable hospital infrastructure project combining smart lighting, intelligent energy management and efficient power distribution. The system is designed to reduce consumption, stabilize critical operations and create a safer, cleaner healthcare environment through automated lighting and real-time energy control.
Sustainability
Prospecting
A circular-economy initiative focused on the reuse, sorting and transformation of urban and industrial waste into new value streams. The SAF platform is designed to reduce landfill pressure, organize collection flows and convert discarded materials into productive inputs for local operations.
Seasoned professionals combining deep local knowledge with world-class financial expertise.
A lifelong entrepreneur, from accounting and insurance to commodities, Leon brings a founder's discipline and a social conscience to building bridges between Brazil and Uganda.
Leon earned a degree in Accounting and a specialization in Auditing in Goiânia, and opened his own accounting practice, the first of a lifetime of ventures.
After years running his practice, serving the meatpacking industry and teaching at university in Rio Verde, Goiás, he moved to Lins, São Paulo, to found an insurance brokerage. Alongside it he created a commodities company, Leca, two businesses now 35 years strong as Leon Seguros and Leca Investment. Success carried a sense of duty: he founded Núcleo Educativo Garotos do Bairro, a social initiative giving back to the children of his community.
Leca was always meant to reach beyond Brazil. Through it, Leon turned to Africa, to understand its nations and offer his business and social experience, and from his work in Uganda came LRE Investment, headquartered in Kampala.
As Founding Partner and investor, Leon leads a company connecting capital to Uganda's development, across projects spanning renewable fuel (SAF), electricity and gas, mineral processing, photovoltaic panel manufacturing, a paint industry and even an organ-transplant hospital, in partnership with the country's government.
From major-event production in São Paulo to opening new markets in East Africa, Camila turns strategy into execution, and is the operational force behind LRE.
Born in Lins, in the interior of São Paulo, Camila trained in advertising and left home early to chase wider horizons, at sixteen she spent an exchange year in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Her early career was built inside some of Brazil's biggest names. She spent three years at Editora Abril, across Exame, Veja and Quatro Rodas Experience, before moving into large-scale events at Roberto Medina's Dream Factory, working on productions from Rock in Rio to Madonna's tour. She later founded and ran her own brand for four years, then went on to lead operations and processes at an insurance brokerage and, since 2020, at Center Vet, a veterinary hospital.
For the past three years she has worked alongside Leon Guimarães to open the African market. Having begun building relationships on the ground in 2024, on her most recent trip to Uganda she led the market research and government relations across Uganda and Kenya.
As Chief Operating Officer, Camila designs and runs every project, from market entry to the mechanics that keep operations moving, turning the company's vision into delivery on the ground.
A tax lawyer turned cross-border dealmaker, Ruben founded LRE to connect Brazilian private capital with Africa's next growth cycle.
Born in São Paulo in 1966, Ruben studied Law at PUC-SP and Economics at Universidade Mackenzie, later specializing in tax law at PUC-SP and at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, and in international tax planning at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam.
His outlook was shaped early by years abroad. He lived in Israel, working the land and later in Tel Aviv, and travelled through Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, before crossing by sea to Athens and on through Scandinavia. He then settled in London, where he worked and studied business English, with further journeys across the United Kingdom, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.
Back in Brazil, he built two decades at the top of tax law, eleven years as a partner at a high-profile law firm, followed by founding the tax practice, and later the international business division, at Campadeli Advogados.
Appointed Honorary Consul of Botswana in São Paulo in 2011, Ruben turned his focus to Africa, leading ventures across Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mauritius, Uganda and Ghana, connecting Brazilian private capital to the continent's natural wealth and, above all, to its people.
A Ugandan advocate with 20 years in corporate, mining and energy law, Paul leads LRE's legal and regulatory strategy across Africa.
An accomplished Ugandan advocate with two decades of practice, Paul specializes in corporate and commercial law, investment advisory, mining and natural resources, renewable energy, waste management, environmental and regulatory compliance, international trade and dispute resolution.
As a shareholder of LRE Investments Ltd, he provides strategic legal leadership across the Company's mining, mineral processing, renewable energy, waste management, technology, infrastructure, agriculture and healthcare investments, advising on the legal and regulatory frameworks that keep large-scale projects compliant while enabling sustainable growth and international partnerships.
Over his career he has advised multinationals, financial institutions, foreign investors, mining companies and infrastructure developers on complex transactions and high-value investments in Uganda and the region, with deep expertise in company structuring, mergers and acquisitions, project financing, public-private partnerships, cross-border deals and waste-to-energy and circular economy initiatives. He has represented clients before Uganda's superior courts, arbitral tribunals and regulatory agencies.
Paul is the Founder and Managing Advocate of Paul Sebunya & Co. Advocates. His philosophy rests on integrity, strategic thinking and practical legal solutions that create lasting value for investors, businesses and communities.
Six defining advantages that set enduring African investment apart from opportunistic capital.
12+ years navigating Uganda's regulatory, cultural and political landscape.
British governance, IFC Performance Standards and IFRS financial reporting.
94% project delivery rate. Consistent above-market returns with verified impact metrics.
4,200+ direct jobs and 18,000 indirect livelihoods supported across all projects.
Quarterly investor reporting, independent board oversight, full Uganda DPA 2019 compliance.
Portfolio developments, market intelligence and the sectors shaping Uganda's future.
NewsLRE Invest Africa sat down with the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry to align investment projects with local employment, turning capital into lasting jobs…
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NewsLRE Invest Africa visited mining operations across the region to follow the full extraction process and its stages first-hand, with technology-driven automation standing out among the…
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NewsIn a meeting with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Olive Kigongo, President of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce, LRE Invest Africa presented its…
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NewsLRE Invest Africa's founders, Leon Guimarães, Camila Fontana and J. Ruben Marone, met with the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) and Ambassador Katureebe Tayebwa to strengthen institutional…
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NewsLeon Guimarães, Camila Fontana and J. Ruben Marone represented LRE Invest Africa at Uganda's 11th Oil & Gas Convention, held as the country prepares for its…
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NewsA delegation led by Leon Guimarães, Camila Fontana and J. Ruben Marone spoke to small-scale miners at the business centre in Kassanda, at the invitation of…
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NewsLRE's founder shared the firm's thesis on Uganda and East Africa on Everything E-Energy & Extractives — The Podcast, making the case for disciplined, responsible capital…
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NewsOn 17 November 2025, a high-level meeting between LRE's founders, Leon Guimarães, Camila Fontana and J. Ruben Marone, and a visiting diplomatic delegation marked the official…
Read More →Whether you are an investor, a development partner, or a Ugandan enterprise looking for strategic capital, we'd like to hear from you.