Yesterday, I kicked off the India-Africa Entrepreneurship and Investment Summit by participating in a panel conversation on “The Startup Ecosystem and Current State of Early-Stage Funding in Mauritius and Africa” at the University of Mauritius. As Africa’s startup ecosystem continues to evolve, addressing early-stage funding challenges is crucial for fostering innovation and growth. Drawing from my experience at AfriLabs and our ongoing efforts to build the African startup ecosystem, my co-panelists and I delved into the topic, sharing our unique experiences.
I raised the following points;
- There is a need to increase collaboration between different stakeholders to increase early stage funding into African startups in Mauritius, and the rest of Africa. A successful case study is through Catalytic Africa—an AfriLabs and ABAN (African Business Angel Network)—initiative that connects startups, innovation hubs, with Angel investors and matches investments with non-dillutive 'grant' funding. So far, we've matched the investment of over 20 startups across Africa with 1.2 million euros, including Yugo Mauritius and Duhqa Limited, Kenya, with Mo Angels—active Angel Network in Mauritius—working with LA PLAGE FACTORY, into Mauritius and Kenyan startups.
- There is an increased need for innovation and startup solutions to be industry-led and academia-led through more research and development efforts.
- We need to take a more collaborative and harmonised approach to support African startups’ access new markets, leveraging networks like AfriLabs with innovation hubs across over 200 cities on the continent, ABAN, and academia networks to provide a soft landing pad for startups. Also leveraging on markets with favourable market entry policies, as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- Beyond equity funding, we need to also take advantage of other forms of financing such as debt financing which is on the rise [TechCabal Insights SOTIA HI 2024 report highlighted that Debt deals made up 32.6% of all financing]. We need to design more blended financing models to support startups especially with the drop off overall VC funding.
- Corporates and governments play key roles in investing in startups, creating favourable regulatory policies, as well as acting as clients and exit opportunities for startups through favourable procurement policies and M&A approaches.
Many thanks to the panel moderator, Dr. Oumesh Gookhul of UoM, and to my co-panelists Nassima Sadar-Gravier, Co-founder of Mo Angels; Vuyisa Qabaka, HYBR Group; and Rajiv Indimath Operator at FREED & Investor with IPV. It was an honour to listen to your contributions, exchange ideas and build connections. I look forward to collaborating with stakeholders across Africa to implement these ideas and drive meaningful change in the startup ecosystem.
#IndiaAfricaSummit #EarlyStageFunding #StartupFunding #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #AfriLabs #startupecosystem
