Africa has vast untapped potential. Africa has 6 of the world’s fastest-growing economies. That clearly tells you that Africa is a great place to start a business or to make some investments. It is no wonder why you find an ever-increasing interest amongst investors looking to invest in Africa. Every year now and at several points, throughout the year we get to see investment opportunities coming Africa’s way. In this article, I look at one of such opportunities that local Zimbabwean startups should seriously consider grabbing.
€100 000 Investment Fund For African Startups
Deutsch Connect, a startup based in Germany with a keen focus on Africa has put together a €100 000 investment fund. The funding will be aimed at equity investments to scale well-performing startups. It did this and will roll it out in partnership with Idea Seed Africa.
It will be rolled out in the form of a pitch contest titled Deutsch Africa Pitch Challenge. It will be directed at African startups in the Deutsch Connect and Idea Seed Africa ecosystem. This entails startup in agritech, health tech, fintech, digitalization, and logistics. These are essentially startups that have great contributions towards economies in Africa.
The initiative will also see the two partners, Deutsch Connect and Idea Seed Africa facilitating collaboration between Germany and Africa. They will identify startups in Germany and startups in Africa for business to business (B2B) matchmaking. They will also facilitate market linkages and investment opportunities.
The Rationale Behind The Partnership
The coming together of Deutsch Connect and Idea Seed Africa is strategic given their core focuses. Deutsch Connect is intently focused on African startups to provide and facilitate mentorship, matchmaking, market access, and strategic partnerships. Idea Seed Africa creates positive awareness and publicity for African startups. The whole aim is to promote innovation and much-needed capital investments.
The comprehensive list of types of startups that are within the Idea Seed Africa ecosystem are agribusinesses, business services, clean technology and energy, utilities, construction and manufacturing, creative, media, and entertainment, education, financial services, healthcare, ICTs, leisure and travel, retail and wholesale, consumer durables, consumer non-durables, transport and logistics, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), automotive, clothing and textiles production, computer hardware, electronics, food production, and furniture.
Phenisiah Sabeta (Head Of Projects – Deutsch Connect) Had This To Say
“We are excited to be involved in this project that recognizes the talent in Africa but will also assist African startups scale from local level to global level (glocal). Our Germany partners believe in the full potential growth that the African startups can achieve. Considering how six of the world’s fastest-growing economies are in Africa, lucrative investment opportunities need to be harnessed.”
Marcus Becker (Founder – Idea Seed Africa) Had This To Say
“My focus for the last years has been on getting people’s attention and attracting more interest on Africa’s startup ecosystem so that this results in more investments. The need for these smaller size investment tickets is very high especially for startups at an early stage. Since COVID-19 it has even become much harder for founders to raise money. That is why we are even more happy to support the current investors with the scouting, evaluation, and investment decision.”
Last year I underwent a 6-week intensive entrepreneurship training program that was done through collaboration between Deutsch Connect and Afrolynk. It was a certified learning experience and I learnt quite a lot from that. So I know first-hand how serious Deutsch Connect is about supporting African startups. It has been closely involved in Africa for over 10 years. Idea Seed Africa is also a strategic platform for you to establish a presence in Nigeria, Ghana and beyond for your startup.
