Kevin Nyango
Venture Capitalist (VC)
This is all about early-stage, high-potential, high-risk and the startup growth. The West African (VC) startup comprises of both the international and some local firms. They include;
Accion Venture Lab founded in the US, and it’s operational in 32 countries within four continents. Some of its east African investments includes Kenya’s mobile payment company Kopo Kopo and soft loans company Umati Capital.
Adlevo Capital which is a private company some of its investments in West Africa includes Paga, Rancard, and Interswitch.
Gold Venture which was founded on Venture Capital Trust Fund platform in Ghana.
Acumen Fund putts its money in the companies that help the world in solving poverty problems. Paga in Nigeria, Medeem in Ghana and Esoko Networks Limited in Ghana are some of the renowned investments that the platform has engaged.
Sanaga Venture it invests in and supports the upcoming ventures within Africa.
Seedstars World it poses competition in upcoming markets. It has invested in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Village Capital it associates fully with entrepreneurs who solve global problems.
Mara Group which is active in 22 African countries and 25 countries globally. Is in a position to employ more than 11000 individuals.
Incubators
They include Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) offers training and mentorship programmes to the young African software entrepreneurs with the aim of creating jobs within Africa.
CcHUB used to improve the use of social media in order to improve Nigerian society. The group is opened to any individual, government or any other NGO which is ready to help Nigeria in solving its social problems.
ActivSpaces the hub supports startup by providing them with office space, group of experts with the same views, internet connections, and business coachings. The platform is found in Buea Cameroon.
CTIC was founded in 2011 in Dakar Senegal. It gets it support from InfoDev and the World Bank. And it provides business support.
TEKXL located in Cotonou Benin provides members with intensive training, workspace and funding for a period of three to six weeks helping them to change ideas into startups.
Accelerators
It helps businesses in growing at a faster speed. Its programmes go for a shorter period roughly from three to six months. Examples include;
Passion Incubator the main role is to connect businesses with the VC art the highest speed.
Tonny Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme was founded by Nigerian billionaire called Tonny Elumelu in 2015. The programme is worth $100.
440NG it’s a joint programme between 88mph and L5Lab found in West Africa.
Angel Investors
This is wealthy people who funded some of the programmes. They include; Tomi Davis who funded Lagos Angel Networks, Chika Nwobi who funded the likes of L5Lab, Jason Njoku founded iROKO, Tayo Oviosu founded Paga,
Private Equity
This is the process where one takes a company at the last stages of its development and giving it a new look to improve its financial performance. Some of the Private Equities include; Synergy Capital found in Lagos Nigeria, Helios Investments Partners which was started in 2004 by Tope Lewani and Babatunde Soyoye as a partnership venture. Jacana Partners, Investment AB Kinnevik and many other.
