New Venture Competition

It is estimated that over $5 billion was invested across Africa in 2022 – the number of start-ups is growing quickly. As the ecosystem matures, the expectations are higher for founders in Africa. Join us for an intimate fireside with some of Africa’s leading start-up founders. We will delve deep into the highs and lows of being a founder – from building a world-class team, attracting customers, and fundraising, to maintaining self-care.

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Doing business in Africa is tough work – myth or fact? It’s no doubt that African countries vary in terms of ease of doing business based on a myriad of factors. This panel will engage private investors, operators and public actors to unravel the nuances of investing on the continent and explore how to navigate an ever-evolving regulatory landscape. What are the key considerations for private players who want to set up operations in a country? What is the government's role in increasing the volume of local and international investments in African countries? How is the private sector innovating to collaborate with governments on investment promotion and policy? What do the private actors want from the government? What does the government feel its responsibility is? How do these overlap? How can we continue to drive dialogue that ensures alignment of incentives in doubling down on Africa’s growth

$8 billion dollars later, what have we learned in the past decade about the enduring lessons of investing in and building successful early stage companies in Africa? Africa has seen a complete market cycle of boom and bust in the VC ecosystem, its first few exits and IPO, and a flurry of founders and media coverage. This panel features insights from serial founders, early stage VCs and leading accelerators. Expect to hear riveting insights on key questions including - What early stage investors have gotten right and wrong in choosing winners? How founders are getting wiser on choosing investors and achieving PMF? How the ecosystem will evolve as it unlocks new types of capital like venture debt and new models like studios?