Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, has established the Future Africa Fund with the aim of investing up to $50,000 to support up to 20 founders annually.
Aboyeji alongside Olabinjo Adeniran and Adenike Sheriff, launched Future Africa last year to provide capital, coaching and community for mission driven innovators building an African Future where purpose and prosperity is within everyone’s reach.
However, with African startups in dire need of seed capital, the Future Africa Fund was set up to cater for this lacuna and to help lead the team in a new direction an additional co-founder, Chuba Ezekwesili, has been added to the team.
The fund it might interest you to know already has about 15 startups in its portfolio including 54gene, Max.ng, Big Cabal Media, Chaka and Lori System among others.
In addition to the funding, Future Africa would provide startups with access to a network of talent and early customers, which he said could make the difference between success and failure for many startups.
Beyond funding, Aboyeji said that Future Africa will expand its coaching and community plans for African startups.
On the coaching side, Aboyeji said there are many questions that the average entrepreneurship course or article skips in the African context.
With that in mind, the Future Africa Venture School (FAVS) will work with an experienced faculty of founders, investors and operators from across Africa and around the world to impart practical wisdom on various issues through articles, webinars, videos and podcasts.
“We will also host public and private virtual office hours where we will help founders navigate the many complex scenarios that arise while building a high growth startup in Africa in real-time,” Aboyeji said.
On the community side, Aboyeji said: “When we started Future Africa, our goal was to build a community in deep conversation about Africa’s future.
“While our goal has changed, we haven’t lost sight of the fact that it will still take a village to build an African future.
“When we started, we thought the only way to build this community was online through our newsletters, websites, social media and Slack.
“However, our biggest revelation is that the old magic of bringing people together in the flesh never fails.
“Whether it was run-down San Francisco bars on a rainy night, swanky VC digs in Palo Alto or in our living room in Yaba, the conversation and connections that have built our community thus far have been forged in person at our Future Africa Venture Entrepreneur (FAVE) Hangouts.
“Building on this, we will be taking FAVE Hangouts with us as we travel the world to bring together communities of innovators who like us committed to building an African Future.”
