WHERE’S THE FUNDING?

Mabinty's career took her from public affairs to international development engagements at the World Bank and GIIN looking at how best to leverage private sector financing to address societal challenges. These experiences led her to Nairobi, motivated by a need to shift gears to create development approaches and solutions that use finance more effectively. Wakiuru worked in the NGO sector but yearned for work with a core emphasis on sustainability and impact. After developing expertise in finance during a stint at the Nest Collective - Wakiurus expertise in finance prompted analysis work on the creative sector which led to her joining HEVA - the continents first investment fund focused on creative enterprises in 2014. Wakiuru and Mabinty, fueled by the same passion to invest in young women in the continent, started LIVE Africa in 2019 to address the gap and opportunity they saw in the sector. Legacy Impact Venture Enterprise Africa (LIVE Africa) is an impact investing company providing Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) services and working to drive capital to African, women-led businesses and gender-balanced teams. The company through expertise in health, education, the arts/creative economy, agribusiness, and technology shapes our practice and investment strategy and offers a combination of skills, including data analysis, research, training on IMM, and impact assessments. In the episode, Wakuiru talked about investor reticence around a financial commitment to creative sectors and talked about the critical need for a less traditional investment ethos around investment and more emphasis on technical assistance and capacity building, highlighting the snowball effect of these inventions in growing and scaling the creative art sector. Wakiuru also highlighted the correlation of womens participation at all business levels with company development and growth.Part 2 of this interview will be released on June 24 so come back to hear the rest of what Mabinty and Wakiuru have to say. Don't forget to listen, subscribe, rate, and review. Contact us at [email protected] and let us know what you think of the show, propose questions or suggestions for topics to cover on future episodes.--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Daniel Koroma, a Business Liaison Manager for Montgomery County, Maryland starts the show sharing his journey as a Sierra Leonean who emigrated and studied at the University of Maryland and Harvard University, developed an expertise in finance and banking before a career transition moved him into local and county government. Daniel talked about the Montgomery County Business approach and its deliberate focus on Access to Information & Access to Capital Daniel shared impressive stats on small business in the County - with over 1 in 3 residents foreign-born or immigrants to the US and 20% of that total being residents of African descent, the diaspora populations are a critical element of the high and growing rate of entrepreneurs contributing to the counties over a trillion-dollar economy and the rich cultural fabric of the state of Maryland. Daniel shared information about the Montgomery County business portal, an award-winning dynamic website that acts as a single entry point for government contracting, finance and funding opportunities, and other relevant training and resources. Daniel touched on the rise of women-owned businesses as a focus for Maryland, which tops the US for the largest number of women-owned businesses with 47% of all County businesses female-owned and 34% of science and biotech business led by women. Daniel acknowledged the realities of access to capital. He mentioned Maryland's tiered approach of microloans support via Life Asset & Latino Economic Development Center who can provide loans and technical assistance up to $250,0000. Daniel also talked about one on one counseling and training classes and technical assistance provided by the following organizations: Maryland Women's Business Center, SBDC, Montgomery County Chambers of Commerce, Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, SCORE, and VITA. Daniel touched on the multi-faceted approach to addressing the business needs of county residents on any giving day, from liaising with chambers of commerce, citizen advisory boards and counseling business one on one on concerns or needed support with the ethos that he always meets entrepreneurs where they are. On the global front, he discussed the success of the legacy African Diaspora Marketplace and its role in connecting local businesses to the Continent and spoke about the genesis of IO Spaces, an entrepreneurship hub in Silver Spring. He rounds out the show by sharing his hopes for connecting diaspora resiliency, purchasing power, and telling and owning our own stories as key drivers to entrepreneurship growth and success. Daniel can be found at the Montgomery County Business Portal at [email protected] This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Margaret Kamara is the co-Founder of District Chop Bar, a West Africa fusion concept based in Washington DC. Developed from Margarets love of food and her culture and buoyed from advice from a personal life coach, she started her business over two years ago with a focus on pop-ups, local festivals and catering events in DC, Maryland and Virginia or the DMV. District Chop Bar takes West African food and other fusion favorites and brings them to a wider DMV audience, hungry for a unique culinary experience.Margaret has been a leader in the local community founding Young African Professionals,, which has been supporting the over 10,000 diasporans in the area attain professional growth through workshops, conferences and events. Margaret became intimately connected to the area's culinary opportunities as well as the programs and organizations available in the District of Columbia to support entrepreneurs.Margaret discussed the decision making process of going into food experience versus a sit down venue or food truck, conscious of the failure rates and meagre margins associated with restaurants. She finally settled on operating from a commercial kitchen which has been a key factor in being able to not only scale but also currently pivoting to provide curb-side pick up and delivering food to customers within the area. Margaret also talks about how taking District Chop Bar from year 2 to year 5 and beyond is not only a labor of love but a family affair, requiring engaging her extended family in food operations and delivery.Margarets business funding philosophy for District Chop Bar is focused on grants tailored to support entrepreneurs working in the local community, whether that's supporting economic vitality in DCs Ward 7 or 8 or addressing food deserts and the lack of healthy options. She stressed the need to research and network and pointed out Chambers of Commerce or business cultivation workshops as key hubs for funding information and opportunities. Focusing on grants rather than loans at this time allows Margaret to ensure true understanding of tax liabilities as an LLC and a clean credit line should loans be necessary as the company grows.Margaret discussed learning from the success and insights from DMV staple Swahili Village and how they exemplify the best balance of presentation and customer service and discussed unveiling the District Chop Bar African Fusion Lunch Box - allowing a weekly sign up for a lunch portion size of delicious food available for busy families all currently at home due to the pandemic. Resources shared by MargaretDC Seed Grant. Catherlic University of America for Start-up Business Conference Latino economic development centerDC Department of small and local business developmentSister Economics Empowerment GrantsChobani Incubator Program Ebay Start CupDistrict Chop Bar can be found on Instagram. Facebook and Twitter and the TastemakersCommercial Kitchen on Sundays starting at 2pm --- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this extended episode, Desiree shares her experiences and perspectives on many things including entrepreneurship, funding and much more. She also shares her experience working in venture philanthropy and impact investing. Navigating her way as a "prospector expert" has taken her from the Robin Hood Foundation in New York to spearheading philanthropy on the continent, specifically Nigeria with the Tony Elumelu Foundation where philanthropic intent drives progress without any of the tax incentives commonly associated with foundations in the West, and then recently creating a legacy program at the Tory Burch Foundation working on cross-generational and sectoral female entrepreneurship and leadership development. Based on her own experience growing up and running her grandmother's bakery in Sierra Leone, Desiree honed an interest and passion for entrepreneurship early on and talked about the disparity of investment between East and West Africa regionally and how East African countries have been able to galvanize investment and finance due to the relative political stability and security in the region. Desiree discussed working with TEF and its focus on using entrepreneurship as a building block to international development and creating opportunity with a focus on startups but also discussed the double-edged sword of microfinance and the sector's lack of emphasis on planned growth. Desiree shared the challenges of developing the building blocks to investor confidence which include financials, taxes, business governance, and transparency within the over 40 million SMEs in Nigeria and stressed the need for SMEs to develop clarity around purpose and how finance would be used to grow and scale. Understanding investor focus and vetting SMEs is crucial in finding alignment. With only 3% of women entrepreneurs getting investment capital, understanding why there is a lack of growth capital, and the opportunities and barriers of debt financing, grants, and other forms of "patient capital" is vital research that all entrepreneurs should master.Desiree reflected on Covid-related necessity being the mother of entrepreneurial invention and that many people are looking to start a business at this time and address needs and previous blind spots in a post-Covid-19 world such as comprehensive child care provision as an untapped opportunity. With 90% of enterprises failing in the first 3 years and only 2% of women-led businesses in the US generating a million dollars in revenue, long term success has much more to with creating need-driven value-added products and services with a large funnel of customers. As businesses try to adapt, Desirees' adage of NBC - Nobody's Coming is wise advice to make entrepreneurs focus on sales and profit rather than loans and emergency stimulus assistance. Desiree has coached women on leading with data and numbers rather than personal anecdotes but also being clear on knowing the source of impact investment funds and gauging real interest in your business will help save precious time and manage expectations. Resources shared during the episode include: Research Crowdfunding platformsSpanks Elevating Women InitiativeGrant Station Shea Moisture New Voice Fund Verizon Fund through LISC Desiree can be found on LinkedIn and Instagram --- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Iddy John is an entrepreneur running two online, tech-based businesses in Tanzania, one in the online travel booking industry Safari Wallet and Place Listed an online directory for restaurants and lodgings. With the current economic realities around COVID-19, there are many challenges to businesses such as restaurants, many of which are closed as a part of the disease mitigation process, micro food businesses such as informal food sellers would be hard hit with no safety net or way to continue to make a living if they cannot sell food on the street. The food delivery platform for Place Listed could fill a critical need by pulling in the micro food businesses into the food delivery business so that they can continue to earn a living in these trying economic times. The food delivery platform could also provide opportunity for the motorcycle taxis to integrate them into the food delivery system to supplement their incomes considering that less people will be out riding on these taxis in close proximity. COVID-19 Funding Resources:Tech FundingIBM is offering $270,000 in cash prizes and direct IBM developer support to build, fortify, test, and deploy the winning ideas through IBM Code and Response. Submissions should address three main COVID-19 areas: crisis communications, remote learning, community cooperation.Apply Now: $270,000 IBM Funding for COVID-19 Digital ResponseApply Now: $5 Million from Gates Foundation for Digital Health ProjectsApply Now: 10 Million CHF to Improve Adolescent Wellbeing with TechnologyApply Now: $100 Million for Digital Health Informatics in PEPFAR CountriesGeneralGrant Station: https://grantstation.com/covid-19-related-fundingOpportunities for Youth: https://www.opportunitiesforyouth.org/2020/04/04/digifi-request-for-research-proposals-on-covid-19What is covidcap.com?On March 26, 2020, CASE and CASE i3 at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business launched a searchable website to help any entrepreneur in the world, for-profit or nonprofit, struggling due to the economic impacts of COVID19, to locate cash relief resources in their community.This is a searchable database where you can search Africa or by specific country name.DEVEX has an interactive platform for COVID-19 funding at https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/zqG5wY --- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This episode features the fabulous Francesca Brenda Opoku, a Social Entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Solution Oasis Ltd; a Ghanaian agro-processing company that manufactures the BEAUTY SECRETS, EXOTIC MAN, and KIPENZI brands of natural beauty products from shea butter and agricultural waste. Entrepreneurship: After leaving her corporate job and despite a rocky start to her entrepreneurship journey, Francesca pushed through in the face of early challenges and now curate high-quality shea butter products sourced directly from cooperatives in Ghana. One of her key lessons learned is that as an entrepreneur, I have learned that a lot is possible. Francesca shares many gems and pearls of wisdom that demystify entrepreneurship and paint a more accurate but still quite inspiring image of what entrepreneurship is really like. Entrepreneurship is not a thing that you do alone, it is a thing that you do in partnership. Funding Challenges: When asked about her challenges with funding she emphasized how much time and dedication the process of securing funding or financing requires. She often wonders whether she has spent a whole lifetime fundraisingknowing that it is necessary although trying part of the process of growing and scaling a business. She shares how frustrating and sometimes demoralizing fundraising can be to the point of bringing her to tears sometimes, but it is part of the hurdles that many entrepreneurs will have to overcome to get to where they want to take their business. Her many challenges with fundraising have often left her disheartened but her resilience has always allowed her to rally when she thinks about why she does what she does and what she has already invested. Her resilience is anchored by the hunger and appetite for what she has created, and the blood sweat, and tears that have been invested, and a bit of hope. What business do I have staying at the mediocre stage when I know that the world is mine to take and that if I do, I am not going alone. I am taking so many people with me and also that I am very qualified for what is available and why are the doors being closed? This is a question that she is still looking for answers to. Partnership: Francesca talks fondly about the beautiful relationship that she has developed with a competitor turned partner and friend who has become like familyFunlayo Alabi of Shea Radiance skin and haircare brand. Francesca supplies the black soaps marketed by Shea Radiance and is a part of the Shea Radiance supply chain while maintaining her own skincare product lines and living and defining what it means to collaborate to compete. As entrepreneurs and black women in the case of Francesca and Funlayo, they are proving that women can collaborate to win while competing in the same business. Connect with Francesca: Email: beautysecretsusa.com Social media: beautysecretsusa on Instagram and Facebook beauty secrets Africa Come back to check out new episodes released every two weeks on Wednesdays. If you like this content go to Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and hit the subscribe button and stream or download your favorite episodes. Dont forget to leave a rating and review to get the podcast more listeners and spread its impact.--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Episode 1: Funlayo Alabi - Entrepreneurship is crying into your kombuchaOur inaugural episode showcases Funlayo Alabi, CEO and Founder of Shea Radiance, a natural beauty brand dedicated to transforming hair, skin, thinking and lives into something beautiful.Entrepreneurship:Funlayo spent a decade working in healthcare as a business analyst and software developer while she created the Shea Radiance brand in her free time. She spent nearly a decade working on all-natural product formulations from her own kitchen.Her business was born out of the need to find a natural solution for her young sons eczema-prone skin. That need sent her on a quest to her homeland of West Africa, where she rediscovered the healing properties of shea butter. Harkening back to her memories of being chased around the house by her grandmother with a tub of shea butter and camphor and smelling like an old suitcase, Funlayo describes that rediscovery as finding the holy grail Not only did she find the missing ingredient for her skin and hair care products; she found a way to link her own journey of motherhood, heritage and economic freedom to that of women shea producers in Africa.According to Funlayo, entrepreneurship is a marathon and not a sprint and there are NO shortcuts. Despite not having many examples of role models in the hair and beauty space to emulate, business like the Body Shop spurred her to weave her own authentic story about shea into her branding to promote it as one of many super products indigeous to the Africa continent.Business Opportunities and Challenges:When asked about her challenges with funding she emphasized doing what you love, but that passion is about 20% of what you need to be successful Branding, marketing and funding are critical for success and she estimated that over $250,000 is the ideal buffer to support the upstream and downstream costs in the supply chain for a beauty brand. She discussed the high and lows of getting into big box stores and the need to understand your margins and discussed the challenges of an independent brand working in a space dominated by commercial brands readily able to pay for space placement and other associated costs. She acknowledges the lessons learned on making sure you have good digital presence and her growing partnership with Whole Foods Market. She says that doing demos and meeting her customers has taught her more about her brand and advises that finding local stores who believe in you is key to your organic growth. Funlayo reflects on how important it is to find reasons for being in business that are bigger than yourself, her why continues to be the women shea producers in her supply chain and her customers who love her products. Funlayo talks about the need to still convince investors on the viability of her business and calls the under investment of female-led entreprises and specifically those run by women of color as depriving the market of amazing products and services Partnership:Funlayo talks about her partnership, mentorship and sisterhood with Francesca Opoku from Beauty Secrets as the epitome of collaborate to compete. As entrepreneurs the two partners dream, network and leverage collective strengths' to scale and grow which allows Funlayo to concentrate on other efforts like the new Dara Beauty Labs, a formulation and product development hub which brings other amazing beauty products to the marketplace.How to connect with Funlayo: https://shearadiance.com--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This scene-setting episode is where co-hosts Michelle McKenzie and Lydia Nylander introduce themselves and talk about what the show stands for, why its and the value it offers to the conversation around development finance and funding for black entrepreneurs with a focus on black women entrepreneurs.--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app