Denis Opudo
As African states strive to accomplish sustainable development, Proparco continues to source finance for these countries. Proparco which believes that mobile phone operation is essential for sustainable development continues to empower African startups. Proparco also stated that since they projected that by 2020 Africa will have over 600 million smartphone users, mobile phones will play a crucial role. Besides, the mobile phones will enhance the accessibility of basic utilities such as education, healthcare, energy and consumer goods.
The Technology and Innovation for Developing Economies (TLcom TIDE Africa Fund ) help in financing innovative startups across sub-Saharan Africa. They majorly focus on startups which harness technology hence leading to sustainable development of the continent.
Proparco is a private sector financial institution which is also part of Groupe Agence Française de Développement. Recently, Proparco received $5 million from TLcom TIDE Africa Fund to support their operations. Additionally, Proparco clarified that the funds form part of their target of $40 million first round. Proparco intends to source the $40 from the African Development Bank (ADB) and European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to Colin Timmis who heads accounting department of Xero in South Africa, startups should develop solutions for African problems. He also said that innovators need to study the need of the society first. He cited an example of Tala app from Kenya which targets unbanked people. The app evaluates the creditworthiness of an applicant through their mobile phones. However, he said that it lacks logic to offer loans to someone without a bank account. Although the startup developers targeted unbanked, they need to consider the location of their customers.
The most recent reports from Disrupt Africa indicated that Africa had reported an increase in funding of startups. Some of the funding that occurred include Partech Ventures and SolarFreeze from Kenya. Partech Ventures secured $70 million while Partech Ventures got $50,000. Besides, in 2017 the startup funding hit the peak as 159 startups recorded $195 million funding.
