A Glimpse of Hope for the Future: Navigating the Current Landscape of Fundraising in Africa
Everyone talks about how Africa is the new frontier and how Africa is the future, there are many projections about the great things coming ahead for this amazing continent. There is a reason why these projections and predictions are a thing, yes, you guessed right- the vast natural resources and most importantly, the human resources that represents the untapped potential of this continent.
Despite the constant challenges that stands as a blockade to the actualization of the potentials of this continent and its people, the Africans still find a thrive. The spirit of entrepreneurship born out of the need to innovate has always been a medium to bring a change. Every year many young innovators step into the scene with bright ideas to make a huge difference and to inspire.
Haven seen many brilliant ideas from young Africans that has had me in awe, from the quality of these ideas and because of the potentials that these ideas would achieve once it’s executed, you see these and you immediately know that these ideas would make a great change in Africa and the globe. Most of these innovative Africans often dream of having a startup and they fly with their brilliant maverick ideas and follow through, grow and eventually change the world. But often times most of these ideas and dreams are stuck as, well, just dreams.
Startups most times can never start up without proper funding from donors. It doesn’t really matter much how outstanding the ideas are, the moment funding lacks, the dreams would take a well strapped backseat, this is very sad.
We’ve seen the power of funding in the entrepreneurial ventures of the CEO of emPawa- Mr Eazi, his trajectory changed for the better just because someone funded his ideas. There is also the story of David Obi Ebuka from Nigeria, he was able to raise $2.8m, he is currently he is a tech entrepreneur and the co-founder of the compliance and security infrastructure platform known as IdentityPass – a proven and credible technology solution to identity theft and an assured platform to tackle cybercrime. Now his company IdentityPass is looking forward to an IPO, more than a billion dollar valuation and hundreds of thousands of customers.
Now this is a beautiful story right, one that has a happy ending? the kind of ending that makes everyone cheer in the cinema. Now just imagine that this went the other way, imagine he didn’t have access to funding, he’ll end up like one of those road side geniuses with nightmares that once were dreams. I’ve seen this happen many times and it isn’t pretty.
Current State of Fundraising in Africa
Across the continent of Africa, proper fundraising efforts have encountered numerous hurdles and obstacles, from economic constraints and donor fatigue to overall limited access to these funding opportunities and has cause frustration in the hearts of many, therefore a lot of talents, ideas, and prospects just die in their fetus stage because of lack of funding, a funding that their counterparts in the Western world have access to, that’s makes the difference in their lives and their nation eventually.
It’s such a matter of concern here, that even in the times when Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) organizes programs that should help, they struggle to sustain these programs, grassroots initiatives find it challenging to secure necessary resources, and entrepreneurs face barriers to funding their innovative ideas. It’s just a big party of dashed hopes.