“I have always believed it will fall to young Africans to build our technology-driven future even when it wasn’t a popularly held point of view. Yet, I cannot deny that particularly in the last year, my faith in an African future driven by a new generation of young innovators was incredibly shaken for obvious reasons. This is what the Future Africa Fund will be achieving.” said Aboyeji.
Future Africa Fund, an angel fund for African startups is investing $50,000 into 20 startups each year to help them scale and serve Africa’s booming enterprise and consumer markets effectively.
The start-up initiative which is Co-founded by Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji, Nadayar Enegesi, Olabinjo Adeniran, and Adenike Sheriff, started as an online community in deep conversation about Africa’s future.
However, the founders felt that there was an urgent need for a local fund instead of leaving the future to be built by other country’s’ venture capital. Hence, they took the responsibility of investing locally in the initiative.
“Today, alongside our exciting and bold new visual identity, we are announcing our evolution from being an online community in deep conversation about an African future to a platform for innovators building an African future today. We believe that by partnering with mission-driven innovators turning our continent’s biggest challenges into global business opportunities, we can build a just world where purpose and prosperity are within everyone’s reach,” said Aboyeji.
Future Africa Fund aims to empower, motivate and inspire local innovators passionate about building result-driven solutions through venture-backed entrepreneurship. The initiative’s primary goal is to make Africa a desirable continent that the whole looks up to.
Future Africa Fund will be led by Chuba Ezekwesili and will back up to 20 founders with up to $50,000 of capital each year. Apart from money, Future Africa Fund will also provide founders with access to a vast network of talent, and early customers which could make the difference between success and failure for many startups.
The fund will also provide coaching and mentoring through its Future Africa Venture School (FAVS) which will work with an experienced faculty of founders, investors, and operators from across Africa and around the world to share their practical wisdom on these issues via articles, webinars, videos, and podcasts. For more details, click here.