Future Africa Fund, an angel fund for African startups has launched to invest $50,000 into 20 startups each year to help them scale and serve Africa’s booming enterprise and consumer markets.
Co-founded by Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji, Nadayar Enegesi, Olabinjo Adeniran and Adenike Sheriff, Future Africa started as an online community in deep conversation about Africa’s future. However, the founders felt that there was need for a local fund instead of leaving the future to be built by Chinese venture capital.
“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 continents 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 local innovators passionate about building proven solutions through venture-backed entrepreneurship.
Future Africa Fund will be lead 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 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 through articles, webinars, videos and podcasts.
I have always believed it will fall to young Africans to build our technology-driven future even when it wasn’t a popularly held a 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.” said Aboyeji.