Africa Technology Investment Roundtable

Africa Tech is continuing to make international headlines. Global investor interest is on the rise fuelled by events such as Obama’s visit to Kenya last year and Mark Zuckerberg’s recent visit to Nigeria and Kenya, where he went on to hail Africa as the future hub of global growth. Investments such as the recent $1.2 million dollar raise by Nigerian startup ToLet.Com.ng are evidence that the publicity is helping to drive real deals.

However many challenges remain for foreign investors interested in tapping into Africa’s emerging tech opportunities particularly due to lack of knowledge of the local market.Organised by Africa Technology Business Network (ATBN), this roundtable will provide in-depth insight into the opportunities and challenges around investing into Africa tech with a focus on the catalyst role of local investor networks. The main focus of the discussion will be on how local market insight can be merged with international funds and expertise by building local-global investor partnerships.

SPEAKERS:

Francis Rudasingwa – Legal Analyst in Strategic Investments Department of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Francis is in charge of conducting negotiations of investments on behalf of the Government of Rwanda, development of methodologies to prioritize investment projects, commission and review of external consultants to perform company due diligence and sector-specific analysis related to particular investments, development of an efficient system to report on progress and highlight challenges.

Yaron Cohen – Co-Founder & international angels initiative lead at Viktoria Ventures.Yaron has been in the financial services industry since 2002, including 7 years in investment banking and asset management in London, and has been in Kenya since early 2009. Yaron’s focus is on connecting entrepreneurs in East Africa to international capital. Yaron is currently leading Viktoria Ventures initiative to attract international angel investors to co-invest alongside locally based angels in the most promising tech startups to emerge from the ecosystem. Yaron has a track record working with entrepreneurs in the ICT and clean-tech sectors to raise debt, equity and grant funding

PROGRAMME:
09:00 – 09:30am: Arrival and breakfast
09:30 – 09:45:  Introduction and welcome – Addleshaw Goddard
09:45 – 10:00: Speaker 1 –    Francis Rudasingwa, Rwanda Development Board
10:00 – 10:15:  Speaker 2 – Yaron Cohen, Viktoria Ventures
10:15 – 11:15: Roundtable discussion
11:15 – 11:30: Mid-morning Coffee/Tea/Biscuits and networking
11:30 – Departure

TICKETS