The number of Women Founders and Co-founders in Africa is on the rise – Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa
The number of women founders and co-founders in Africa is on the rise, according to research by Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) an online community for startups. In 2019 that number was still just at 18%, that’s fewer than one in five—but it’s still better than in supposedly more “advanced” hubs like Silicon Valley.
Fortunately, African hubs don’t have to replicate the flaws of more mature markets and several exceptional female African leaders in the tech and finance space are taking matters into their own hands.
Fatoumata Ba, a 2019 Quartz Africa Innovator, has spent the last decade as an entrepreneur and executive building digital businesses and understands the challenges for Africans raising funds for their startups on the continent. Ba, who’s originally from Senegal, was the founding head of Jumia in Abidjan but most recently has launched Janngo Capital.
This month, she raised €15 million ($16.5 million) from the European Investment Bank as a key step in her team’s target of closing a €60 million fund in the first quarter of 2020. The fund which focuses on early stage through growth stage startups.
It aims to be the largest pan-African VC fund able to deploy capital across the gamut from seed through growth stage, says Ba. She argues this is key because “the toughest thing about building a startup is actually starting up.” Ba also points to the 70% failure rate in the first two years globally and intends to have a very hands-on approach to help investees pilot and de-risk their business models. Janngo Capital isn’t waiting till the fund closes and has already quietly invested in three startups which are still a very early stage and to be disclosed at a later date.
Crucially, Ba and her team are 60% female with plans for 50% of its portfolio to be founded, co-founded or directly benefit women. “This is critical and was an essential part of my motivation to take a leap of faith and become an investor myself,” she says.
Ba is not alone, of course, in focusing on the paucity of backing for female founders. Last year, Alitheia Capital launched a gender fund led by veteran investor Tokunboh Ishmael with a target of between $75 million to $100 million for women entrepreneurs.
“Female fund managers are also more likely to invest in and have access to top female founders, through their networks that male fund managers may not have access to,” explains Barbara Iyayi, a fintech growth equity investor. “These expanded networks give rise to more opportunities that increase the quality of deal flow and opportunities to make strong returns, particularly in Africa “where the diamonds in the rough” are not easily noticeable.”
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
