Dream VC Launches a Four Month Free Fellowship Program For Africa
Dream VC, a Remote Venture Capital Upskilling Institute, has launched a new fellowship program dedicated to providing more access and opportunities to traditionally underrepresented individuals in the African venture capital space.
The four-month program will run from June to September, 2021 and will place particular emphasis on young homegrown Africans and the diaspora. It aims to teach its fellows basics from conducting due diligence and drafting investment memos, all the way to understanding the strategies and legalities of setting up VC Funds or Angel Groups.
“Everyone is talking about investing in the next generation of African startups, but not enough people are talking about empowering the next generation of young African investors,” says Cindy Ai, cofounder of Dream VC. “The median age of the African population is in its teens and there’s a massive youth unemployment issue. People are saying entrepreneurship can help solve that. But beyond that, what if we invest in the young people from the community who will later be writing those checks to entrepreneurial peers?”
The free program is focused on helping more young professionals on the continent break into the VC space. Fellows who take part in the Dream VC program will get weekly training sessions and project assignments emulating real work done by VC analysts and associates. They will also partake in engaging workshops and community-led upskilling mixers, as well as exclusive panel discussions with top African VCs and serial entrepreneurs on topics such as gender lens investing and more.
Dream VC is on a very similar mission to Included VC, but with a focus on the Emerging Markets, where they hope to bring together top African VCs across the continent to provide more opportunities to young Africans. The program aims to build a talent pipeline of promising young investors that are intimately familiar with the pain points of the communities they grew up in and can drive change in the venture capital industry through an Afri-centric lens.
“Incredible programs such as Included VC have highlighted the importance of providing access opportunities to traditionally marginalized populations to get their foot into venture capital.” says Mark Kleyner, the other co-founder of Dream VC. “They are completely changing the game, and the venture capital context right now on the continent still lacks a strong base of young investors who want to become future ecosystem builders in their communities. The gap exists because there are not enough opportunities for these young people to build the knowledge, skills base, or get access to these elusive VC funds.”
Dream VC was founded in 2021, by a small team of Young Investors and Former Tech Founders including the founders behind MZZ Africa.
While the international interest is now putting African startups in the spotlight, there are still very few support systems for aspiring local investors and opportunities for young people to break into VC on the continent. Dream VC says it exists to change this and democratize access to this industry through the Dream VC Fellowship program, which is entirely free and fully remote.
“We want to bring on young and diverse fellows across the continent and beyond who are visionary, highly empathetic, and extremely driven about birthing innovation in all tech sectors in Africa. The future of Africa will be shaped by this next generation and Dream VC was created to become the launchpad for them,” Cindy says. Here
