Kenyan entrepreneur, industrialist and philanthropist Dr. Chris Kirubi has called upon investors to support young innovators who are ready to venture into the chattered of entrepreneurship.
Speaking during the opening of the 4th Angel Fair Africa at a Nairobi Hotel, Dr, Kirubi reiterated that there was need to give room for entrepreneurship to thrive in Africa. Investments worth millions of dollars are currently at different levels of negotiations after the two-day deal making forum that ended last week on Friday 11th November. During the event DR Kirubi encouraged global players to consider Africa as a profitable destination for their funds sighting the high returns.
“It is laughable that foreign investors consider Africa high-risk, they make 4-5 % return on investment while in Africa we are making 30-40 %. African entrepreneurs are being recognized the world over and I am actively investing in startups; offering both funding and mentorship.
Reacting to the Trump win he said
“You can’t be an expert both in business and in politics; Trump is a good example of that I haven’t seen him do one single political thing. We can only wait and see what he does, but if he runs the country how he runs his companies avoiding taxes so society can benefit then it will be difficult. Politics is a calling while business is a skill we need committed leaders but everyone should occupy their space.”
The two-day event brought together accelerators, incubators and emerging businesses from across the African continent and investors to do deals. During last year’s event in Accra over $20.3M worth of deals were closed, with this year’s projects expected to top that. Angel Fair Africa was founded by Ghanaian Business Eric Osiokwan he said
“My vision was to create a Shark Tank for the African market. This is a conference it’s a place where deals are made. We connect startups and accelerators to real entrepreneurs because we believe African problems will be solved by African solutions.
Kenyan entrepreneurs who have built and exited amazing global companies also shared their experiences. This included.
- NjeriRionge, a first-generation Internet pioneer who co-founded Wananchi and exited to East Africa Capital Partners and second generation entrepreneurs;
- Hilda Moraa who started Weza Tele and sold to AFB for $1.7M and Munyutu Waigu who built Rupu and sold to Ringer AG would constitute the exits panel on the 1st day moderated by Heath Arensen of Invested Development.
NjeriRionge said, “Entrepreneurs scaling businesses across Africa is paramount now as the Pan African agenda continues during the AU political discourse of open borders and free trade. I encourage entrepreneurs and founders to know when to exit whilst they are ahead but also mitigating inherent risks during the succession planning process.”
“Exiting your business (in most cases) is a marathon and not a sprint. You’ve got to be working on your business, strengthening it and getting it exit-ready, long before you think you’ll actually exit.” Observed Yossi Hossan, MD of Techstars.
Hilda Moraa, Ex-CEO of Weza Tele noted “We need more local companies to think of IPOs by aiming to build million dollar businesses. It’s possible, if only we start investing in our own and give them authentic support in the ecosystem”.
Finally, “Translating years of hard work in the form of well executed business plans into realized cash through a well-timed, well priced exit is the true litmus test of an astute investor. No one ever went bankrupt by realizing profits.” observed Job Muriuki, Director of Centum Capital.
The two-day event was sponsored by USAID East Africa trade and investment and trade hub and Chanzo Capital.
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