Investment
It is Time to Fund the Future By Iyinolowa Aboyeji community, it is possible to build an African future where prosperity and purpose is within everyone's reach. Even though we didn't see all of this coming, it feels like we were preparing for this moment. S o m e Welcome to the Future! I know that sounds like a really odd way to greet you all given the current wave of fear, uncertainty and doubt but look beyond all of that for a moment. The future we have always imagined is unfolding right before our eyes. Zoom isn't the sound of a car leaving for work in the morning but the name of another critical tool for getting to work. Instagram Live is television except this time we can actually chat live with everyone else watching the show from Michelle Obama to Usher. E-commerce is not a nice to have subset of commerce but all of it. I'm no longer the crazy black guy investing in molecular lab diagnostics (www.54gene.com), my government is in on it too (https://nipc.gov.ng/2020/04/07/ncdc-nigeria-toget-four-additional-testing-labs). If even two months ago you showed me the world we woke up in today, I'd be asking you who's your dope dealer. But here we are. At Future Africa, we partner with innovators turning our continent's most difficult challenges into global business opportunities. We believe that by empowering innovators with capital, coaching and
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July-August 2020
investors - even traditional venture capitalists whose one job is investing in innovators believe this is the worst time to invest in innovators. We disagree. Although I am pretty sure they are in the wrong business, I can understand their fear. Startups are small and risky. In a recession, perhaps even more so. There are no lofty valuations to chase or scores of investors writing checks to the next unicorn. Heck - many startups should be lucky to stay alive. Yet we believe that there is no better time to invest in innovators building the clear and present future we have just been accelerated into. I say this only because I have lived this.
DAWN
www.africanbusinessassociation.org
