Dear ABAN Member,
April is here with us, and with it comes some amazing and enlightening news.
#AESIS2021 HIGHLIGHTS
Maybe not so much, but it is definitely a high-interest sector. During the month of March we conducted a poll on our Twitter page and the results were very eye opening.
The poll asked: “Which sectors do you think need the most investment when it comes to funding for African startups?”
Out of the 30 people that took part in the vote, Agri-Tech was voted as the most underserved sector, leading with 73.3% of the votes, followed by Edu-tech which raked in 20% of the vote. The sector that came in third place was Smart Cities, which bagged 6.7% of the vote.
The Agri-Tech sector has promising innovation opportunities and advances that would give African startups great opportunities to grow and revolutionise the sector. Perhaps something to consider for our angels here.
In our effort to continue building angel networks, we are pleased to announce that ABAN is building three Cross-borders Angel Networks to invest in SmartAgriculture, CleanTech and Smart Cities.
The initiative, funded by the European Union and under the African European Digital Innovation Bridge (AEDIB) Initiative, will focus on using digital innovation to spark new opportunities for sustainable development, thereby creating new jobs, more inclusive processes, and improved living standards.
With this initiative, the European Union will partner with African startups to strengthen digital and innovation ecosystems in Africa.
Check out the results of the poll here.
EXCITED ABOUT AFRICA EARLY STAGE INVESTOR SUMMIT (#AESIS2022)
The annual Africa Early Stage Investor Summit AESIS event is set to take place in November 2022; with the first batch of online events set to kick off in May.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s event was largely virtual, but this did not deter all relevant parties from being part of this growing discussion and interaction. And we are ready to do it all again. In 2021, VC4A and ABAN hosted the 8th edition #AESIS2021 on November 4 and 5 as well as in-person investor meetups hosted in 13 cities around the continent on November 3, 2021.
It is amazing to see how the event connected more than 2000 individuals from 75 countries around the world. We cannot do this work alone and are sincerely grateful to our partners, colleagues and friends across the industry. The attendees got to listen to over 80 speakers and interacted with over 500 investors at the summit.
This year, AESIS will be bigger, better, and more profound as the Angel Investment community keeps growing on the continent. Check out all the material from the #AESIS2021 here and also watch a snippet on the YouTube link here.
PUSH TO HAVE MORE WOMEN INVESTORS AND STARTUP LEADERSHIP
March was Women’s Month – celebrated across the world and this time with the resounding theme and message centred around breaking barriers; creating environments that are conducive to the growth of women in all sectors. In the Angel Investing scene, the same was adhered to, too.
In the spirit of breaking barriers, ABAN was pleased to highlight and celebrate all our networks that are run by women, finishing up with a resounding call from ABAN Board Member Yemi Keri, also co-founder of Rising Tide Africa to get more women involved in angel investing.
After getting a taste of angel investing with the Lagos Angel Network and seeing how hard it was for women to get funded, Yemi told Techpoint Africa’s Chimgozirim Nwokoma, that she started her company with the aim of mentoring women in the startup sector.
“We (together with Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien) founded Rising Tide to increase women’s participation in angel investing so that they can see it as an asset class; the end goal is to invest in more female founders.
We believe that with more female angel investors, we can reduce the gender funding gap for female entrepreneurs. That was the genesis of Rising Tide, and it is a vehicle in which we are now investing.
The Lagos Angel Network has metamorphosed into a network of networks. Now we have different networks within the Lagos Angel Network,” Keri said.
You can sign up for that here.
Once again, as we kick off this new month, we look forward to greater collaborations and growth in the sector. Till next month,
Fadilah Tchoumba
Secretary-General, ABAN
