Denis Opudo
Last year, South Africa had 74 funded startups, Kenya 46 and Nigeria 34 startups. In the last two years, the three countries made up of more than 77% of funded startups in the continent. There are several reasons that make Africa attractive to investors. They include growing middle class, sustainable development, digital transformation and political stability.
The Deloitte 2017 report indicated that Africans aged 15 to 24 years were 200 million. By 2030, the figure is projected to hit 321 million. This makes Africa to be a youth-driven continent. The new projections indicate that the population of African youths will sum up to approximately 1.1 billion by 2050.
There is a rise in Venture Capital and private equity investment in African. The foreign investors can now fund their partner companies in Africa directly. The continent’s startup ecosystem helps in solving real-life problems. The profound startups in Africa include the agritech, healthtech, and the fintech ecosystems.
Africa has recently recorded a remarkable rate of mobile technology adoption. The M-PESA mobile technology in East Africa helps to leverage unbanked population. More than 97% of Africans have shifted from landline infrastructure to mobile technology. Majority of the population use mobile platforms for interaction. Additionally, they use mobile technology for internet services and for money transfer.
The continent also enjoys a long period of political stability. This makes most of the African countries to be peaceful than Europe and Middle East countries. Moreover, African countries are moving towards political democracy. This initiative creates a conducive environment for investors. Finally, the establishment of regional blocs enhances trade operations across the continent.
The youngest French President, Macron has created a good relationship with African countries. He visited the continent seven times touring nine countries within a period of one year. President Macron’s effort reaffirms his surest sign of intent in Africa. During his era, he made many guarantees with the continent. He also signed guarantees with individual countries in Africa.
He reopened an embassy in the Gambia and also donated USD 1.6 billion for development.
The French President attended the Vivatech’s recent trade exhibition. During the event, he promised to support the development of African startups. He also announced USD 76 Mn French development agency (AFD) initiative. The initiative will disburse funds ranging between 30,000 to 50,000 euros. This will helps to support small and medium scale startups in the continent.
