accelerating entrepreneurship in africa
DESCRIPTION
VC4Africa is building a leading peer-to-peer network that connects African based entrepreneurs with the resources (network, knowledge and capital) they require to realize their potential. By our definition, every entrepreneur we engage creates value in the areas of people, planet and profit. Problem Statement Innovative early stage ventures with the potential to yield high social and environmental impact - and requiring less than USD $1 million in financing (the 'S' in SME) - are the most difficult segment of the SME pipeline to reach. This is especially true in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. Often times early stage ventures have a limited track record and lack the collateral needed to secure debt capital from a local bank. Moreover, local banks and traditional financiers too often do not appreciate the dynamics of the entrepreneur’s specific business and therefore cannot add value beyond financial capital. The cost and complexity of due diligence is one of the limiting factors for those interested and able to invest in this segment. It simply costs too much to find genuine entrepreneurs with a solid business idea and plan—just ask anyone with an SME fund and they’ll tell you how ‘hard it is to find qualified deal flow.’ As a result, most existing SME funds seek larger deals and the highest margin businesses. At the same time, micro-credit is limited in its ability to support high growth businesses beyond small-scale enterprise and leaves entrepreneurs with potential standing on the sideline. This dynamic creates an early stage “vacuum” in which a large number of potentially thriving, innovative companies are either constrained to be micro-enterprises, and hence have a limited impact on economic growth and job creation, or don’t come into existence at all. This tends to shut out promising entrepreneurs in the sub-$1 million financing range indiscriminately, or raises the cost of capital to prohibitively high levels—above the already-high rate of return on capital exhibited by many SMEs—making financing uneconomical. Our Objective VC4Africa exists to fill this vacuum. As the largest network connecting African entrepreneurs, angel investors and early stage VCs, VC4Africa seeks to reduce the barriers to investing in small and growing businesses with high potential to contribute to innovation and economic growth throughout Africa. But we are more than a social network. We seek to leverage our data in meaningful ways to increase access to resources and facilitate successful business and investment connections to African entrepreneurs with currently limited access. VC4Africa develops tools that work to efficiently connect members and, in our community’s drive to fuel innovation, create jobs and bring rapid economic growth to communities throughout the continent.TRANSCRIPT
Entrepreneurship Accelerated
THE ENTREPRENEUR
VC4Africa aspires to become the preeminent social network for entrepreneurs and investors.
VALUE ADDED
Our mission is to help our members build game changing companies that defy the missing middle.
DISTRIBUTION FIRM SIZE
By definiAon ventures on VC4Africa are looking to scale.
ACCESS TO FINANCE
Access to capital is one part of the story. VC4Africa places equal focus to the non-‐financial needs of its entrepreneurs.
VIRTUAL INCUBATION
VC4Africa is a virtual incubator, tracking the progress of entrepreneurs & supporAng their growth & development over Ame.
CROWDSOURCING
With members in 159 countries we tap into a global network of resources.
1: CAPITAL
The largest network of organizaAons supporAng ventures under USD 1 million.
2: MENTORSHIP
Any entrepreneur can register a mentor request. A global network of experts is available free of charge.
3: TOOLS
Self-‐learning: Empowering entrepreneurs with access to tools, templates and knowledge resources.
4: EXPOSURE
ConnecAng entrepreneurs to world class opportuniAes – to pitch, gain exposure & meet partners.
5: NETWORKING
Members meet offline every day at one of the many VC4Africa meetups around the world.
1200 VENTURES
VC4Africa has screened more than 1200 ventures from 40 African countries and counAng.
A FEW FACTS
» We have screened over 1200 applica5ons and more than 600 entrepreneurs have successfully published their venture online; » The ventures on VC4Africa are early stage and require investments between USD $10K and USD $1 million; » The primary sectors include mobile, web, energy, health care and agriculture, amongst others;
A FEW FACTS (cont) » Each venture is scalable, makes smart use of technology, or is disrup5ve in their applica5on of a business model; » Thirty percent of the registered ventures have some form of social mission and could be qualified as a social enterprise; » Listed entrepreneurs have access to free online tools, mentorship opportuni5es and private deal rooms.
EXTENDED BITS
A joint venture and funding resulted in the launch of a SoWware TesAng facility in Somaliland.
KNELLEN
Local and foreign angel investors connected to launch virtual EgypAan art market.
SHOP SOKO
AWer being selected for DEMO Africa, Shop Soko went on to close 700K in funding.
AGRO MART
ConnecAng with investors to launch the first Agro informaAon service and organic grocery store in Buea, Cameroon.
MKAZI
Job search for blue collar workers via mobile phone. From concept to Series A.
DORKING DAIRIES
Mentorship in markeAng, investment in Cold Storage, and roll out of micro milk entrepreneurs network.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Join the VC4Africa community as we work together to power Africa’s greatest entrepreneurs!