Where's The Funding?!

By Where's The Funding?!

The WTF?! Africa Edition podcast has been consolidated with the Where's The Funding Podcast. No new episodes will be uploaded here. Please subscribe to the Where's The Funding Podcast for Africa-relat... more

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FAQs about Where's The Funding?!:

How many episodes does Where's The Funding?! have?

The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.

Where's The Funding?! episodes:

March 24, 2021S2 Ep. 6: Developing African Capital Markets and Home-grown Asset Managers on the Continent with Umulinga Karangwa
Umulinga Karangwa is a Rwandese Fund Manager and Investment Advisor with 17 years of experience in financial services with a focus on investments in Africa. Over the past 13 years, Umulinga has raised and managed funds investing in Africa for different asset classes and is passionate about developing African capital markets and home-grown asset managers on the continent.
Key interview highlights:
Umulinga started covering investments from Belgium to London and then the African market where she covered African equities. Her passion gave birth to the setup of a forum for the same Investment in Africa.

All investors take risks, but in different aspects and degrees;
Private equities take a calculated risk by investing in companies with a good track record, growing but stable and promising.

V.Cs invest in fast-growing companies with strong client attraction at an early stage.

Angel investors take higher risk, as Investments are done with fair ticket sizes when founders are still quite unstable and without sizable revenue which is one of the reasons angel investors are crucial and critical for supporting start-ups.

It is essential for founders to have a good networking approach and to understand the rudiments of fundraising as well as ways to connect investors, Part of which is getting coached for fundraising, connecting to incubators (most of which have serious investors with specialties backing them) and other entrepreneurs.

The likeability of investors is higher when the business idea is scalable, can solve problems, create job opportunities, and have a strong founding team. Founders must be intentional and positive about their pitch. Confident, committed, strong, open to collaboration, and inquiring of feedback from investors. Founders should be resilient enough to go back with a better module when feedback is negative.

Social Media: Connect with Umulinga on LinkedIn
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast.
We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected].
Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Social Media:
Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow host on LinkedIn:
Michelle J. McKenzie
...more
38min
March 10, 2021S2 Ep. 5: How Veggie Victory Is Leading the Vegan Movement in Nigeria with Hakeem Jimo
Hakeem Jimo is a Vegan entrepreneur who co-founded VeggieVictory together with Bola Adeyanju - Nigeria's pioneer plant-based restaurant turned food company. VeggieVictory started in 2013 as a restaurant, before introducing VegChunks, the first commercially produced meat substitute in Nigeria, which emanated from the urge to provide for vegan needs, and now available in QSR in Nigeria and many other stores nationwide. VegChunks is a food option for people prone to non-communicable diseases, those looking for more affordable protein sources, and of course lifestyle changes.
In 2013 it started as Nigeria's first plant-based restaurant and is now the country's first mover plant-based food tech company. Hakeem has a Nigerian-German background and was a communication professional before VeggieVictory.
Key interview highlights:
Entrepreneurship is a process that may not yield exponential results until after two years or more. The early stage is a period to network, invest energy, organic funds, and time to build the business and create traction.

Organic funding (self-investment or investment from family or friends and then funds from business cash flow) at the start-up stage is important before pursuing external funding from investors.

Investors often expect a founder to be 100% dedicated to their venture when seeking external funding. Investors want to feel confident that the founder is fully vested and dedicated to the success of the venture.

Fundraising is a journey that requires getting trained to become investment-ready. Look for training or accelerators/incubators to get the skills needed to pursue angel, venture capital, or private equity funding.

Grants are a good funding alternative. However, be mindful because you cannot build a business on grants alone.

Angel investors are easier to work with compared to development institutions, and venture capitalists. Angels offer small ticket sizes that give the right-size funding needed by some SMEs to evolve.

Angel investment can convince other investors to invest in your business faster than if you have only been funded by grants.
Social Media: @veggievictory.com
@vegchuncks.africa
@Africavegannigeria
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast.
We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected].
Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow hosts on LinkedIn:
Michelle J. McKenzie
Join us for the next episode!
...more
50min
February 24, 2021S2 Ep. 4: How To Build A Scalable Business Model and The Value of Black Art with Freda Isingoma
Freda Isingoma is the founder and CEO of KIISA, LLC. Freda is an entrepreneur and ex-investment banking professional who has worked in multinational and leading investment institutions in London, New York, and Cape Town. She has experience in establishing successful business initiatives as well as managing investment funds. This includes her role as a venture capitalist for an award-winning team at Close Brothers Group (UK) an African Investment consultant at Nile Capital Management based in New York.
Key interview highlights:
There are more voices for SMEs in developed countries like the UK and the USA. There is an absence of mid-cap firms in the African capital market compared to more developed markets in the US and the UK. In most of Africa, there are either large-cap traditional family-owned businesses that have been around for generations or small-cap businesses often characterized by tiny companies and early-stage start-ups with very few mid-cap firms.

In addition to access to funding, technical assistance in developing executive teams and roots to market support is necessary to scale-up micro-firms into mid-cap firms.

Things to keep in mind when starting a new entrepreneurship venture:
entrepreneurship does not require 100% certainty before venturing in;

become a scholar of your business and make sure that you believe in your idea;

make sure that you have enough runway (cash to pay your living expenses) for several months because your business might not be profitable right away and it might even take up to 5 yrs to reach break-even of profitability even if it is cash generative;

finding funding is not as swift as imagined, therefore build relationships and a network for support

prioritize your clients and suppliers to serve as brand ambassadors for your businesses--referral is vital for consistent growth of SMEs;

a capable executive team/leadership structure is necessary to build the business and drive the mission
Art is a valuable asset if more people understand the role that art can play in wealth-building as a viable alternative asset to cash and other forms of investments.
Guest contact info/social media:
LinkedIn : @ Freda Isingoma Instagram : @Freda Isingoma
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast.
We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected].
Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Social Media:
Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow hosts on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzie and Lydia Nylander
Join us for the next episode!
...more
53min
February 10, 2021S2 Ep. 3: Going Beyond - Investing in African Countries that Most Investors Avoid with Franklin Amoo
Franklin Olakunle Amoo is a co-founder and the Managing Partner of Baylis Emerging Markets. As an active investor in a number of operating companies across Africa, Franklin serves on the boards of several African companies. Prior to co-founding Baylis, Franklin helped lead the Strategic Credit Group the $1.8 trillion Mizuho Financial Group, where he helped establish the High Yield sales and trading, secondary loan trading, structured finance, and asset finance businesses. Franklin worked at Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
A Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Franklin holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Baylis is a non-BRIC private-equity emerging and frontier markets investment fund that focuses on private middle-market growth equity investments in industrial and telecom assets across Africa. Baylis focuses on less covered geographies, including francophone and post-conflict countries, where access to much needed developmental and growth capital has been an on-going issue.
Key interview highlights:
Raising funds takes time whether you are raising investment funds or you are an entrepreneur looking for investment. Make sure you have a long runway; having enough funds to survive and mobilize the business for the first few years cannot be overemphasized!

Fundraising by fund investors can be as equally strenuous. It takes a lot of time and effort to raise funds whether you are raising funds as an investor or as a founder.

Emerging Market Funds like Baylis are looking for alignment around values and understanding the companies that they include in their portfolios Africa's primary source of capital is still the Development Financial Institutions.

The appetite for investing in Africa is low and unevenly targeted to a few countries, mostly the Anglophone countries with a dearth of investment opportunities for Francophone countries.

Only about 10% of private-equity deals from African funds raised ever earn any carry or hit the hurdle rate of around 8% above the hurdle rate one of the reasons being poor alignment between investment funds and recipients of investment funds
Guest contact info/social media: Connect with Franklin on LinkedIn
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast. We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected]. Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow hosts on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzie and Lydia Nylander
Join us for the next episode!
...more
1h 4min
January 27, 2021S2 Ep. 2: Youth Entrepreneurship, the Promise and the Challenges with Violet Nyando
Violet Nyando is an Agricultural Innovation Expert with over 15 years of experience in Agribusiness Advisory Services and Agricultural Rural Innovations Studies with a particular interest in Youth Entrepreneurship, Governance, and Leadership of Agri-Enterprises. Her experience in Kenya and Eastern Africa and engagement with International Development Practitioners across the World has earned her a deeper understanding of the African Agricultural and Community Landscape.
Violet has expertise in the areas of Agricultural Innovations including Climate Smart Agriculture, Agricultural Policy Development, Institutional Development, and Strengthening, Agricultural Advisory and Extension, Agricultural Product Value Chain Development, Gender Analysis, and Mainstreaming, Agribusiness Development with a particular interest in Youth Entrepreneurship, Governance and Leadership of Agri-Enterprises, Public Policy Lobby and Advocacy Processes and Impact Assessment of Development Projects both in the public and private sector.
Key interview highlights:
Many African business ideas fail not because they are not good but because they did not get sufficient support. Many African SMEs fail before the 3rd year because of insufficient interrogation of the business idea and the foundation that they were built on wasn’t strong enough to last

Youth-led African businesses need better institutional support and business development services, in addition, to access to finance, technical assistance, skill-building, and good governance/management training

Access to finance is still a major challenge to growing good ideas into profitable businesses. In Kenya there are some Youth Entrepreneurship Funding Models that include:

Group lending

Government program-based funding (declared funds) that target youth

Cost-share funding models promoted by development partners (bundled with technical assistance) where partial funding is provided and bundled with technical assistance and mentoring

The entrepreneurship process needs to be demystified in terms of the timelines for business growth and profitability and hard work that goes into creating a successful business.

The importance of prioritizing customers by creating a great customer experience. Customers are not only a form of funding but also the best advertising. Happy customers are the best advertisers and repeat customers are good for cash flow.
Connect with Violet on LinkedIn: Violet Nyando
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast.
We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected].
Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Social Media:
Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow hosts on LinkedIn:
Michelle J. McKenzie and Lydia Nylander
Join us for the next episode!
...more
1h 5min
January 13, 2021S2 Ep. 1: How the BAYI HUB Program is Scaling Up African and American SMEs with Temidayo Adebayo
Temidayo Adebayo is the Founder and Managing Partner of BAYI Capital with experience in identifying and nurturing high-impact investment opportunities in small-to-medium enterprises (SME). The Bayi Foundation arm of the business focuses on developing and supporting the small business community with the right support to breakeven and found their group with limited dilution.
Key interview highlights:
Where is the “Made in Africa Product”? How many black-owned and managed companies are earning at a minimum $100 M in revenues? For African entrepreneurs, it is important to focus on creating “Made in Africa’ products. There are too few products in the global market that are made in Africa.

Black entrepreneurs (no matter where they are located) should focus on building businesses that can become “blue-chip'' companies that sustain and thrive well beyond their founders' lifespan. The Bayi Foundation supports entrepreneurs in the US and Africa in product development and business services.

The first person who buys into your product or business idea is YOU! Small business entrepreneurs MUST invest in themselves and their businesses as the first investor if they are serious about growing their business and attracting external investors.

Many African entrepreneurs have an inability or unwillingness to pay for business development services that they need to grow their business, which is a major barrier to business development on the continent.

Entrepreneurship is another name for a leader, leadership and entrepreneurship are intertwined.
Follow the BAYI Foundation on Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF (Africa Edition) podcast.
We would love to hear your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey.
If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at [email protected].
Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.
Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram and like or follow the WTF Africa Edition podcast on Facebook.
Follow hosts on LinkedIn:
Michelle J. McKenzie and Lydia Nylander
Join us for the next episode!
...more
55min
November 25, 2020 Episode 12: Evelyn Lewis - How A Childhood Curiosity with Computers Led to the Creation of a Contact Tracing App to Help Fight Ebola and COVID-19
Evelyn Lewis is the CEO of SBTS (Sierra Business Technology Systems) Group Inc., a global technology firm that helps governments understand and coordinate attention to economic organizational, technological innovation, and integrated enterprise.
Evelyn talks about how his childhood curiosity with computers and technology led to the creation of the SBTS Group of companies to make an impact on people's lives, especially in Sierra Leone where he is from.
He chronicles how he started and grew his business and how he got into youth training and creating job opportunities for youth, not just in Sierra Leone but also in other countries on the African continent.
Some of his most important work was with using technology for contact tracing to help manage and defeat the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Sierra Leone between 2013 - 2016 that killed 11,323 people. The SBTS Group developed the Health Outbreak Manager (HOM) software which consists of an app and a comprehensive suite of tools that help collect and manage data for users for EVD responders and have been updated for use with COVID-19 responders.
To connect with Evelyn, you can find him on LinkedIn.
...more
1h
October 28, 2020 Episode 11: Seun Shokunbi - Building Human Capacity for African Leadership
Seun Shokunbi is Brooklyn raised, Nigerian bred, and seeks to connect her diaspora community with their native roots to spark a generational revolution in Africa. Her work with Karfi, a consulting and leadership development firm, and its charitable arm the Karfi Foundation, tackles the issue of untapped talent among youth and the most marginalized communities in Africa. She strongly believes that democratizing the entrepreneurial space is vital to Africa’s economic development. That means empowering any and all, regardless of wealth, status or geography, with the resources and tools needed to lead and succeed.
...more
35min
October 14, 2020 Episode 10: Mberry Seck - How WIC Senegal Is Investing in Women
Mberry is the Deputy Treasurer of the Women's Investment Club (WIC) Sénégal, an organization that envisions to give women in francophone West Africa privileged access to financial instruments for inclusive economic development. Before becoming Deputy Treasurer, she worked as the manager of the organization, namely on the design, operationalization and launch of WIC Capital, the organization's investment fund and WIC Academy, its technical assistance structure.
Follow WIC on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at WIC Senegal

...more
41min
September 30, 2020 Episode 9: Regina Njima - Bringing the Best Silicon Valley to Nairobi
This episode was recorded months ago during the initial COVID lockdown period.
Regina took what she learned working in Silicon Valley with Singularity University, particularly the abundance and exponential mindset, and is creating an ecosystem in Kenya for entrepreneurs where abundant thinking is at the foundation. This gave life to Kizo Ventures, Kizo being a Swahili word that means abundance.
Abundance mindset - a mindset that focuses on what is possible and what you have
Scarcity mindset- a mindset that focuses on limitations and what is not working
Regina is trying to change and scale the abundant mindset among African youth entrepreneurs and is hopeful that she will be able to do so but cognizant that it will take time. Kizo Ventures is training youth entrepreneurs about how to work collaboratively and equip them with the skills that they need to be globally competitive.
The Kizo investment catalyst is preparing entrepreneurs for investment and then connecting them with investors in their network.
What do you think about Regina’s views on collaboration and an abundance mindset?
Do you feel comfortable sharing your business ideas for feedback among your peers?
What Do You Think About the Antler Model of Connecting Entrepreneurs to Capital?
Email us at [email protected] and let us know your thoughts about this episode or give us general feedback about this podcast. Don't forget to subscribe, like, rate, and share your favorite episodes of this podcast with friends to help us grow the listening audience.
...more
54min

FAQs about Where's The Funding?!:

How many episodes does Where's The Funding?! have?

The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.