By Achumboro Ataande
God blessed Africa with resources, people, and potential. I was able to experience all that last November when I flew to Nairobi, Kenya, to speak at the 11th Angel Fair Africa (AFA@11). AFA is an event that facilitates investment into some of the best startups on the continent. They usually have a multi-day event in a different African country every year, which brings together some of the top startups from across the continent, founders who have exited their businesses, and investors. The AFA team usually invites 2x to 4x the number of investors to startups. Creating a unique space where the number of investors is at least double the number of founders.
I was invited to speak about investing, which, at its best, brings resources to people with potential or brings people to resources with potential. Here was my first opportunity to share insights in Africa with African startups about how to persuade investors to fund their startup. However, that was not what made this event special for me; what made it special was that the focus of the event was to bring some of the best startups in Africa to investors and facilitate investments, which is rare, especially in Africa. In fact, to date, AFA has directly facilitated about $10 million USD of investment in startups and indirectly close to $100 million.
One of the most significant issues that startups and businesses in Africa face is limited access to funding. They have reason for this belief, according to the Economist, to attain the economic booms of East Asian countries, Africa would need to double its investment as a share of GDP. Loans are not even a sustainable option for most businesses, with interest rates averaging 25% across 19 African countries compared to 9% in Vietnam and India. One of the Ghanaian startups I invested in could only find a 28% interest loan, even though they had verifiable clients and income to cover the loan. As I write this article, I received an unsolicited offer for $4.1 million in funding with a 7.5% interest rate for my own business. Access to investment capital and loans in the U.S. is one of the reasons America produces so many unicorns. Therefore, events like Angel Fair Africa are desperately needed to bring long-term capital to African startups.
I have invested in about eight African startups over the last 3 years; my goal is 1000. Additionally, I have done follow-on investments for half of the startups. Most of the investment came via leads from Eric Osiakwan, the Managing Director of Chanzo Capital. He is the mastermind behind Angel Fair Africa. Therefore, when he invited me to come to Angel Fair Africa to see how everything works on the ground, I jumped at the chance. And it lived up to everything Eric promised and more. I’ll explain the more part at the end.
Other than influencing investors like me to invest in startups, what makes AFA special is its ability to help investors understand the realities of the companies on the ground. The day after the event, the Ahadi Corporation, a company that provides internet access to people who are at or below the poverty line, invited us to see their operations. They are located in the slums of Kibera, where most Kenyans are reluctant to visit. This visit showed the value a great startup can have on a community. We saw residents have access to stable internet in a place most companies would not visit. In addition, they hired people from the community, creating high-profile jobs in neighborhoods where companies don’t recruit. We saw the pride in their eyes. Best of all, this company has become profitable, meaning that the services and jobs will last for the community.
After experiencing all of this, it made sense to bring AFA to NYC to connect with Africans in the diaspora. Many people in NYC are interested in angel investing, but they need support to know how to get involved especially in Africa. Creating that bridge of capital can help get to the necessary capital inflows for Africans entrepreneurs. The AFA in NYC on September 19, 2025, has already gathered so much interest from VCs and angels to attend the event so participation in this invite only event is already closed. We hope that in the future, we can allow more people into the ecosystem so more people can be involved in “Investing and Building in Africa” which is the theme of the event.
