Date: June 30, 2022
The second India-Africa Entrepreneurship and Investment Summit will take place on the 1st and 2nd of July at the Sarova Panafric Hotel, Nairobi. Hosted by the India-Africa Entrepreneurship Forum, this event will give leading entrepreneurs in Africa to connect with potential Indian investors and founders who may be interested in forging joint ventures. It will also give Global Investors in Africa an opportunity to explore investments in Indian start-ups. Nearly a dozen companies will be sponsoring this event, one of which is Five35 Ventures.
Five35 Ventures is a Venture Capital Firm that focuses on female-led or female-impacted start-ups across Africa. Their goal is to invest in female-focused Entrepreneurial businesses and to leverage the same with the access to the right networks, capital and partnerships. Investing in female-focused businesses can achieve up to 35% higher ROI which could result in an African GDP uplift of up to 5%, if the playing field was level for this overlooked demographic. Five35 target tech-enabled, female-centric African start-ups in their seed stage that can scale into new markets, drive revenue, and economic participation, and create jobs and economic participation. Post-Investment, they anticipate their portfolio companies to be prepared for their next round in the following 6-18 months. They wish to yield excellent commercial returns for their early investors while also creating a better entrepreneurial ecosystem for women founders. They encourage founders to focus on their ventures rather than on fund-raising and hence have a very efficient and founder-friendly investment process. They also co-invest alongside leading funds, angel investors, HNWIs, etc. Five35’s gender mandate goes beyond just investing in female-focused start-ups. They’ve also set up an initiative called The 35’er Club, which enables women to invest into the fund as LP’s at significantly reduced barriers, thereby also democratizing the investor opportunity.
The start-up sectors of both India and Africa are prospering. They are pulling in huge investments. However, when it comes to investing in early-stage businesses, female-led start-ups often get overlooked by investors with capital. We must decrease this disparity so that the economy can benefit from the success of these start-ups.
IEAF believes that upon interacting and forming an alliance, Africa and India's entrepreneurial sectors could gain a lot from each other. Entrepreneurs from both regions could work toward solving common problems and can increase the reach and impact of their businesses. Trade and development relations between Africa and India would improve as well.