Denis Opudo
A change in leadership in any nation leads to either positive or negative step in any country’s economy. South Africa changed its leadership from President Jacob Zuma to Cyril Ramaphosa. Many citizens have developed much hope in the current leadership. The current president vested much emphasis on small business entrepreneurship. Ramaphosa assured the citizens about this during his latest State of the nation address (SONA). SME is an important sector in any economy.
But South African startup ecosystem has been on a decline in the recent past. There is a call to improve the investment scene and corporates should be more committed. Furthermore, there should be more improvements in the entrepreneurship development at the grassroots. These are the only ways of making the SMEs effective in the economic improvement. This is according to the director and founder of Jozi Angels, Abu Cassim. Jozi Angels is an angel network that helps in the growth of startup ecosystem.
The South African startup ecosystem is still trailing the major world economies. This includes European, American and some Asian ecosystem. The country has got adequate potential in its ecosystem. But there is a need for more local commitment and understanding. This is the only way of creating a sector that can be compared globally. This is especially in the angel investor scene which is an important player worldwide. Angel investing has to borrow a leaf from cryptocurrencies and instill in itself the culture of Johannesburg. The issue of angel investing is flourishing in Africa. For instance, Jozi Angel started due to detonation in venture capital funds. It also started due to the call for a producer network of early-stage investors.
The country’s entrepreneurs are just better like their global counterparts but they lack support. There is more interest coming up in the syndicated investment. This is promising for both the startups and investors. Syndication is an angel investor for startups. Moreover, it allows for a pocket-friendly way to possess one of the next big products. It grants angels to develop a folder of 10-20 startups. Therefore creating transformation and minimizing risk. Therefore syndication brings more funding in the market. Syndication has made negotiations much easier. The process of investment is also smooth just like working with one investor.
