Powering Family-Owned Businesses

Private Market Talks: Conversations and insights on the private markets with private capital’s leading figures.

Sengal Selassie is the founder and CEO of Brightwood Capital Advisors, a private credit firm with more than $5 billion in assets under management. Brightwood is a unique investor, providing financing to both non-sponsored-backed businesses as well as sponsor-backed companies across the middle market. They also invest in just five distinct industry verticals: technology & telecommunications, healthcare, business services, transportation & logistics and franchising.

Our conversation covers Sengal’s path to the creation of Brightwood, the evolution of its investment strategy and how he thinks about investing with sponsor-backed and non-sponsor-backed companies. We also explore the unique challenges and special gratification of working with family-founded, entrepreneur-owned businesses, including Brightwood’s sourcing, underwriting and risk management strategies. Finally, Sengal discusses what he looks for in prospective team members and his thoughts on the importance of diversity in building a strong asset management team.